I am always awed when I look at all of the artwork Jim did in Amiga and Commodore days. Also all of the work he did on CompuTrainer. It is truly art and should be in a museum somewhere (for now we'll have to settle for a
website).
I really do not forsee people helping Jim with the shrimp, octopus, jellyfish, etc. especially the animation of them. Unless these are people with a film or special effects background I don't trust em to get it anywhere near right.
Which brings us back to the fish. What strikes me about the Aquarium is the motion of the fish, the realism of the water's surface light and shadows on the coral, the lighting off of some of the fish (Royal Gramma, Copperband, Wimplefish).
I've stated several times (much to Jim's chagrin), that I think there are other people who could assist with making just fish. The structure is already there to have crisp, detailed fish with properly shaped bodies.
I look at Jim's art over the years and don't know what to say. The amount of detail is mind-boggling. I could never even think of doing anything like that. Then I look at the Aquarium and the fish and think, you know, I could probably make some fish myself that would blend in.
I wonder if Jim is doing multiple layers of transparency for the freshwater fish. That would be nightmarish to have to model, texture, and create an alpha channel for 2 objects per fish instead of 1.