Carousel with the multiple removable cages for displaying and dispensing live market fish for retail sale from an aquarium tank

摘要

Apparatus for displaying and dispensing live market fish for retail sale includes a carousel for receiving, holding and moving a plurality of removable fish cages containing live market fish from a storage location, through a display location, to a dispensing position within a store based, water filled, open-top aquarium tank. Full fish cages are loaded onto the carousel within the aquarium and are sequentially emptied on a first- in-first-out basis as fish are purchased by consumers.PP Each removable fish cage is a tubular structure formed by a longitudinal `U`-shaped screen a hinged longitudinal transparent top and a structure at either end adapted for mounting onto the carousel. The carousel orients the transparent top of each mounted fish cage vertically at the display location and horizontally at the dispensing position.P PThe supporting distribution system includes a central processing center where live market fish are received in bulk and loaded into individual cages, a transport vehicle for carrying the loaded cages from the processing center to store based aquariums and cage transport pails for manually transferring the loaded fish cages from the transport vehicle to the carousel within the store aquarium.