Ok, so if Jack is in an underwater cage where they used to keep sharks and dolphins, why is there a button to an intercom system to allow communication???

Am new btw, so forgive me if this has already been said!!

most dolphin research involves communicating with them. I don't know about sharks, but I would assume so.

Also, It looked to me like the side Juliet was on was more likely to actually be the aquarium (note that the emergency drain button was on this side. You don't need to drain something which isn't filled with water), while the side Jack was on was more of an examination room. (note it had an examination table with hoisting equipment above it)

could it be that they added the intercom a little later, after the dharma stuff came to an end

Juliet said it hadn't worked for years... and the last season hinted to talking animals with the bird supposedly saying hurley's name...?

I don't understand what the problem is with the communication thing. If there were a dolphin having an autopsy done or something on the table, maybe the doctors need to communicate with someone somewhere else. We don't know where the other end of that intercom is. If there's no water in the room, the intercom can work just fine. If it's filled with water, they don't use the intercom, obviously.

The doors indicate that the room wasn't always filled with water. Tells me that they used it for examination and the button is for "emergencies" as we saw. It isn't an aquarium as we think of them.

Easiest way to get a 20 foot long shark on an exam table is to let them swim into the room, restrain their movement, then drain the water from the room.

Probably what the chains were used for. To keep the shark above the table so when the room drained the shark was on the table.

Kinda like a dry dock.

I was thinking the same thing..that maybe they do an autoposy on an animal...dolphin/shark etc. Now I'm thinking that they might have conducted genetic experiments on animals then moved closer to humans with Joop.