to a vital research project.

Aimed at restocking species of groupers in local waters, the project has already spawned one major success.

For the first time ever a red hind grouper has been produced from eggs in artificial conditions.

Scientists Dr. John Tucker and Dr. Jonathan Hateley have managed to overcome the disappointment of a theft from the Aquarium of a yellow fin grouper in early July.

Only the carcass of the 20-pound fish was found floating in the water off Flatts Village.

And traumatised by the loss, the grouper's female partner was found dead hours later in the display tank they shared for more than seven years.

Both fish were part of a project funded by Government, Britain's Overseas Development Agency and the Bermuda Zoological Society.

Dr. Hateley said the original project was aimed at producing Nassau and red hind grouper from eggs, developing them to a juvenile size and then releasing them to help re-stock local waters.'' Working with the yellow fin groupers, Dr. Hateley said they could have produced better results than the other, completely artificial experiments.

Mariculture supervisor Dr. Tucker logged more than 160 hours observing the pair and videotaping their mating behaviour.

Dr. Hateley said: "There are two ways to do it, either get the fish to spawn themselves or get the eggs and throw sperm at them. The former is easier.

"There has been some success with these fish spawning in the Aquarium. We were watching the fish and we believed they were due to spawn in two days.

Then the unthinkable happened.

"Trying to do it all again we would have to find a sexually mature male and a sexually mature female, who would be able to settle into and breed in the environment of the Aquarium.'' So they have continued with the original 30-month experiment, now in its second year.

Dr. Hateley said there had been disappointments mixed with successes.

"We did not produce anywhere near the numbers necessary to do a realistic project.

"We are going to have another shot at it next year and we may be able to get some fish in January.

"The fact that we have produced the red hind grouper is ground-breaking stuff. We needed at least that result.'' The two fish that were killed were generally considered the most dramatic and beautiful in the Aquarium, also being an extremely valuable exhibit and educational resource.

Besides being a loss to the Aquarium's display, thousands of dollars had been invested in research, care and maintenance of the fish.

Dr. Hateley hopes the work will eventually be useful in re-stocking other breeds of fish that have suffered diminishing numbers.

Dr. Jonathan Hateley.