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60-year-old Waxdick: Stralsund's living cultural heritage in the Meereseum!
Find out more about the Waxdick, a 60-year-old sturgeon in the Stralsund Oceaneum, and its exciting history.
60-year-old Waxdick: Stralsund's living cultural heritage in the Meereseum!
The Waxdick, the oldest fish in the Oceaneum Stralsund, is celebrating a remarkable anniversary this year: He could be 60 years old. This extraordinary sturgeon was caught by Usedom fishermen in 1968 and was around 50 cm long at the time. When he arrived at the Maritime Museum, he was estimated to be around three years old. The Waxdick initially lived in the Maritime Museum and moved to the Oceaneum in 2008, where it was transported to its new tank in an elevator.
Today the wax thick measures around 2.50 meters and weighs an estimated 30 kilograms. Its diet consists mainly of shrimp, mussels and squid. Determining the exact age of this sophisticated species is difficult because the Waxdick has no scales. Therefore, his age can only be determined through otholites examined after his death. A celebration of its 60th anniversary at the Maritime Museum is planned for 2028.
The Stralsund Oceaneum
The Oceaneum belongs to the German Oceanographic Museum and Natural History Museum Foundation and is intensively dedicated to the topic of the sea. With an exhibition area of 8,700 m², there are five permanent exhibitions here, including “World Ocean” and “Diversity of Life”. The architecture of the building, designed by the Stuttgart architectural firm Behnisch & Partner, is striking and harmonizes with the surroundings of the Stralsund harbor, which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Visitors can experience water and living environments from the Baltic Sea, North Sea and the North Atlantic in the aquariums. One of the largest aquariums, the schooling fish tank, has a floor area of 300 m² and an impressive panoramic window with an area of 50 m² that can hold up to 2.6 million liters of water. The Oceaneum was named European Museum of the Year in 2010 and attracted six million visitors by November 2017. Stralsund has established itself as a popular tourist center in the southern Baltic Sea and offers both relaxation and education.
In the “river mouth” basin in which the Waxdick lives, other fish species such as Bester, trout, Atlantic salmon and Baltic snail can also be found. The pool has an area of 25.8 m² and holds an impressive 64,500 liters of water. Nevertheless, the Waxdick is under special observation as part of the endangered sturgeon species.