Chicago's Fish Hotel

Something fishy about new Chicago hotel CHICAGO (Reuters) - At Chicago's newest downtown "hotel," guests can swim out, but will they ever leave? Friends of the Chicago River, an environmental group, cut the ribbon on Saturday on the city's first "fish hotel," off the Michigan Avenue bridge at the south end of the city's Magnificent Mile shopping district. The hotel is actually a series of small gardens -- some floating and others submerged -- densely planted with wetland vegetation that should be more inviting to urban fish species than the river's bare, steel walls. Some 18 species, including green sunfish and largemouth bass, which live in the Chicago River, could soon be snacking on clasping-leaf pondweed and bristly sedge planted in the new habitat. Even Coho salmon, better known in Lake Michigan or on Chicago menus, could swim by for a snack. The habitat will be equipped with underwater cameras so Chicagoans can get a glimpse of the action. Costs for the project, which was done in partnership with the City of Chicago, were not disclosed but were funded partly by corporate donations. Once tried out and tweaked, the concept could be extended to other urban rivers where fish struggle with a difficult habitat. "It is exciting to know that this project ... could guide other cities faced with similar challenges," said Margaret Frisbie, executive director of the Friends group.>