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Giant Grouper
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And none of the wildlife shown in this post was harmed by me, or Patty, in any way. Although I must say that I do find grouper to be very tasty!
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Red Lionfish
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Those spines are venomous and the fish is a voracious predator. It is also highly invasive. Native to the Pacific and now plaguing the Caribbean, eastern US coast, and the Mediterranean. Fortunately they are tasty, although unlike with the grouper I have not have the pleasure.
🐟 🐟 🐟
Patty and I visited the Adventure Aquarium in September of last year. It was teacher night, so Patty got in for free and as her guest I received a discounted entry fee. It was my first venture out, other than doctor's offices, after my back injury.
We started out in Hippo Haven, where two of the namesake beasts reside.
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Nile Hippopotamus
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We were lucky enough to be there at feeding time, so we watched as vegetables were thrown over the wall in to the water and the hippos gobbled them down.
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| Jellyfish |
We then walked though a darkened wall with tanks of jellyfish. Frustratingly hard to photograph as it was dark, they were moving, and there were all manner of reflections on the tank walls. The yellow line in the image above is the distorted reflection of the ceiling lights. The motion of the jellies was hypnotic.
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| Unknown Sea Critter |
As we strolled through the halls there were a variety of small and large tanks with a corresponding variety a small and large invertebrates and fish for our viewing pleasure. And we were pleased.
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Lined Seahorse
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As it was an evening on a school night the aquarium was relatively empty. Even nicer is that we didn't have to deal with hordes of children rushing about and crowding the displays. There was one young fellow who really didn't want to leave the shark tank viewing area. And he made everyone within earshot well aware of his preference. But otherwise it was a pleasant viewing experience.
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| Fish sp. |
There were two large tanks housing plenty of large fish including this happy looking fellow.
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Bowmouth Guitarfish
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And this love child between a shark and a ray?
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| Shark sp. |
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| Ray sp. |
Two of the creatures in the touching pool. I always worry about my fingers at such exhibits.
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| Chain Catshark |
The Chain Catshark (aka the Chain Dogfish). This particular species is biofluorescent.
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Honeycomb Cowfish
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Two species of cowfish.
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| Cowfish sp. |
They look like swimming boxes to me.
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| Eel sp. |
There were a variety of eels, including this individual, that I can't tell wether it's happy or angry.
🐢 🐊 🐢
In addition to the purely aquatic fauna, there is also a nice collection of reptiles.
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Loggerhead Sea Turtle
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Patty's favorite were the turtles. There were two varieties of sea turtles including this very cooperative Loggerhead.
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Diamondback Terrapin
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The Terrapin just lied there. Would have been nice if it could have looked my way.
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Common Snake-Necked Turtle
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The Inspector Gadget of the turtle world.
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Mata Mata
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There are some weird looking turtles out there. This one is from the Amazon Basin. And spends its days sitting on stream beds looking like a rock. Woe to the prey that mistake for one.
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Dwarf Caiman
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This fellow also blended in quite nicely with its surroundings. Those reptiles are sneaky.
🦐 🦐 🦐
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Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp
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I'll end with this Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp. And while I cannot attest to tastiness of this species I can state without hesitation that its relatives are indeed very tasty. As can my mom.
🦈 🐡 🐟 🐠
Patty and I both enjoyed our time with the fishes and turtles and the other critters.
And visits to an aquarium always get me dreaming of setting up one at home. We haven't had one since the Macquarium sprung a leak.
Hmmm ...
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