Exhibition created by Jadranka Sulić Šprem, Frane Čizmić and Tatjana Dobroslavić
Duration: From December 23, 2013 to November 3, 2014
Contact was made between the subtropical Mediterranean and the Tropical Red Sea when the Suez Canal was opened in 1869. The creatures that came into the Mediterranean from the Red Sea are called Lessepsian Migrants after the engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps who planned and supervised the digging of the Suez Canal. Although the canal runs both ways, more species migrated in the direction of the Mediterranean than the other way. Thus to date in the Mediterranean Sea more than 300 aquatic organisms of various taxonomic groups of have been recorded. And at least 82 species of fish have been recorded, Lessepsian Migrants that have had a serious effect on its ecology and have threatened numerous local and endemic species. Fourteen species have been recorded in the Adriatic that still have not much affected indigenous species, but any increase in their numbers could well threaten the equilibrium of the ichthyofauna. The exhibition puts the digging of the Suez Canal, that magnificent feat of engineering, into the broader geopolitical and economic context of events in the second half of the 19th century. Particular mention is made of the contribution made by Croatian people to this achievement.
The exhibition catalogue is available in the museum shop.
