I went to the Aquarium again.  They’d been sending out notices about the opening of the new exhibit, “Tentacles.”  Friday was a Members Only Day and I wanted to feel ‘special’ as a member, so I went!  Join me, won’t you?

 

 

 

 

 

Nautilus.  Nautili.

 

Okay, this is where I share my inner dork.  When I first saw this display I was blown away by how fast these squid were swimming.  I mean, just look at that stream of bubbles.  Then, oh….it’s mechanical.  A kid was playing with it.  Der. Here’s the real thing.  Kinda cute, huh?

Cuttlefish….also kinda cute.

I watched these little shrimp for a long time.  They were fascinating.  They kept so busy – sort of like ants. They seemed to have little personalities.  Super cute!

 

Okay, so the name of the new exhibit is ‘Tentacles’ so obviously the main focus are the octopi.  When I was there, they were… sleeping?  Well, they were not moving around much anyway.  This one had ‘suctioned itself’ onto the viewing glass.  Very interesting looking creatures.  Not so much cute.

These diving birds were so fun to watch.  I don’t remember what they’re called.

‘Flying’ through water.

This is one of the viewing areas of a tank that’s about 3 stories high.

I love watching the sardines.
Okay, now prepare for something kind of icky….

…..a starfish eating.  Apparently, when they capture a lot of food and can’t eat it all at once, like this one did, they sort of belch out their stomachs and do the digesting outside their bodies.  Ew.

The guides at the Aquarium told me I was lucky to see this because it’s rare. Lucky me!

They said I was exceptionally lucky that day because I also saw a Monk Eel which was much easier on the eyes…

Really beautiful, isn’t it?  They said this creature is usually very ‘shy’ so I kept my camera shutter clicking.

Word got around of my photographic expertise, so a few fishies stopped by to have their picture taken….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below is a Sunfish.  A really odd looking thing.  It’s like a big, rectangular block swimming around.

 

 

 

 

I think we all recognize this little fella….

Two-way Leopard Shark traffic.

A sturgeon!  Looky, look, Mikey!  A sturgeon!

I mentioned this in my last post about the Aquarium.  It’s a bronze art piece of an octopus coming out of the wall.   Beautiful work.

Don’t know what these were, but they were surely interesting.

Another day in Wonderland.