Gentle Friends, last Saturday we headed south to Monterey
...for a Day Trip to the Aquarium...
.... the Aquarium is in one of the old canneries...
.... when you first come in there is a huge life-sized model of a gray whale... so impressive and drives the point home that these wonderful animals are just huge!!!
...then you turn a corner there is the tank full of frolicking sea otters - so hard to photograph but so cute and they were feeding them so it was even harder to get any kind of snap...
... here's a snap I pilfered from the internet of an otter floating in a kelp bed...an interesting fact about the otters I learned... is while at rest, all four limbs can be folded onto the torso to conserve heat, and conversely when it's hot out, the hind feet can be held underwater for cooling... I really love the learning side of a road trip......
__________________
... when they made over the building from cannery to aquarium they left a section of the original machinery in place... it was originally Hovden Cannery .....
... it's amazing how much seafood was processed through this area and the reason for the collapse of the fish population in the 1960's and 70's along the California coast...
___________________
The next area along the way was the Kelp Forest ...a really magnificent tank of kelp and the creatures that live in and around these pants...
...all the tanks need continuous cleaning and an army of volunteers keep things positively sparkling...
... again it was difficult to get nice snaps of the great fish and creatures...
... I found this video on YouTube of the Kelp Forest...
___________________
Then we headed over to the Octopus Exhibit...
... on many of the exhibits are brass sculptures of the animals in the tanks...and although really great to look and very decorative they actually have a very real purpose and function...they are specifically there for the visually impaired to feel what the animals are like...just another way The Aquarium reaches out to the public... I saw lots of people feeling them...
...there were lots of different octopi to see but the only one I got a halfway decent snap of that you can really see is of the Entroctopus dofleini (I looked it up), or as it is more commonly know as the Giant Pacific Octopus... there were also some really beautiful anemones.... the octopus is hiding so he has turned the color of the rocks....
______________
Next up were the crustaceans and crabs... this super crab is called a Sheep Crab...
.... and the Sheep Crab brass sculpture next to the real thing.... this crab scavenges along the deep reef, it rests by day and forages for food at night - it will eat anything it can find .....
______________________
... here is a snap of a Broadnose Seven-Gill shark... in the Monterey Bay Habitats Tank...
... I really loved this touch and feel of the bottom of the sea display...
________________
We headed to the Vanishing Wild Life and the Sandy Shore Exhibits...
...these open tanks held Leopard Sharks, Bat Rays, and small ducks.... across from this tank was a huge exhibit called the Sandy Shore...
... it is an open-air exhibit holding all sorts of shorebirds...
... the Western Snowy Plover - it is the smallest and whitest of the American plovers...
... the Black Necked Stilts, these are young ones...
.... here are some older Black Necked Stilts.... an interesting fact about these birds.... they stand on one leg to conserve heat and energy.... gotta love the very informed docents that are everywhere to answer your questions!!!
__________________
I think that will wrap up this first installment of our trip. Do stop back for part two.
Take care,
edgar
Great pictures Edgar and fun info.
ReplyDeleteLinda
Thanks for this post! Son and family will be stationed in Monterey for a year and I’m planning on visiting them in September. Can’t wait to visit the aquarium with the grandsons!
ReplyDeleteOh how fun. It's always a treat when you let us tag along on your adventures. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool experience. Thanks for sharing Edgar,
ReplyDeleteSandra in Texas
Thank you for sharing what we might not have been able to see
ReplyDeleteotherwise... so interesting... you enrich our days....
I will be back! I remember a wonderful special about Monterey Bay that was on Public TV a few years back. What an amazing place. Thanks for sharing the photos Edgar!
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a great place to visit (and learn.) I have been to a couple of big aquariums and it is always fun to see the wonders that lurk in the deep.
ReplyDeleteI love it when you take us on a show-and-tell field trip! Thank you for doing it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your trip,loved reading about it.
ReplyDelete