Fish story

[owlmoose]

Today, we went to Monterey Bay Aquarium to see the fishies.



Leafy Sea Dragon


Blubbery Jellies. I didn't know jellyfish even came in brown!


Sea Nettles


Sardines, swimming in the round. This is one of my favorite spots in the aquarium. In the whole world, really. I can just stand in the center and watch them swim around forever. I find it captivating.


Sadly, the sea otter exhibit is under renovation until March, although we did get a look at some furry little heads swimming around in the kelp beds, plus I also saw a sea lion. They were pretty far away, but aquarium staff were handing out binoculars on the outside deck, so instead of just squinting and asking ourselves if that was really an otter or just our imagination, we could tell that they were actual real sea otters, swimming around on their backs and diving underwater. Still, it's not the same as seeing them right there, up close and personal. Guess we'll have to go back sometime, oh dear.

Comments

[auronlu]

Ah, you took photos of all the same things I take photos of when I go to an aquarium: leafy sea dragon (if they have one), the red nettles in the blue tank which has become almost obligatory, and the swimmy swimmy fish tank.

That sardine tank is indeed very hypnotic.

Do they still have the tidewater exhibit with the birds? My mother got a photo of an avocet, curlew and ...willet? in there with the beaks going up, down and straight, just like a Tory Peterson bird guide cover.

I loved Monterey Bay aquarium when I visited.

As a side note, I have no idea why you'd ever be in the Baltimore/DC area, but the national aquarium is utterly worth visiting for the final gigantic reef tank. It's a simply enormous enormous donut-shaped tank about six stories tall, and you descend via a spiral walkway down the inside of it. Between the fish swimming around you and the odd MYST-like ambient music, it's like a dream.

I haven't been there in about 20 years, and I suspect the place may show a little wear and tear now, but when it opened, it was one of my two favorite museum-type places as a kid. (The other being the UPenn archaeology museum.)

[owlmoose]

They do have the tidewater aviary, another favorite spot of mine. I took a couple of pics but nothing that really came out. T brought his camera, though, so if he posts anything I will surely link to it.

I went to a conference in Baltimore several years ago, and one of the events was in the national aquarium, and it was indeed cool. There was also this jungle-like terrarium that I enjoyed wandering through through, although that might have been a special exhibit because I can't find it mentioned on the website.

[auronlu]

That's the rainforest section at the top. :)

With the ever-elusive sloth. I know it's up there, but it's like Where's Waldo. I never could find it!

[wordweaverlynn]

One of the things I still miss about Philadelphia is the University Museum and its fabulous exhibits. Mummies and artifacts and the world's second-largest crystal ball. And the Rodin museum. And the Art Museum. And.... yeah, after all these years, Philadelphia is still my city.

[leyna]

Pretty pictures! The sea-nettles are gorgeous against the bright blue water.

Now I have a longing to visit the Sydney Aquarium (since it is very unlikely I'll get to Monterey Bay any time soon)