July 30, 2017 -- aquarium

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Visiting the aquarium in Toronto.

Whale skeleton.

They have more kinds of jellies than I'd seen in one place.  Australian spotted jelly.

Moon jelly.

Pacific sea nettle.  These were big.  Feet long, including tentacles.

Closer crop.

Lots of aquariums have critters you can touch.  Rays,  Sharks.  Starfish.

I remember having my hand in the freezing water at the aquarium in Seward, Alaska, and watching a sea anemone reach for my hand.  I had my hand out of there in a flash.  We were told that kind of anemone couldn't hurt a human, but I didn't put my hand back in there........  It was creepy to watch a critter that big move toward my flesh with Intention.....

In Chicago's aquarium I touched a sturgeon.  Sturgeons have inhabited our planet since the time when dinos began.......  Touching someone whose ancestors knew dinos.................  Wow.

In Toronto the aquarium has scarlet cleaner shrimp.  I have seen video of fish being cleaned of parasites and dead skin by fancy little shrimp.  In Toronto you can stick your hand in the water with this sort of shrimp, and get a cleaning.

They were basically interested in what was under my fingernails.  It felt like very gentle poking.  What a cool thing to get to do.  No pics -- with one hand elbow deep in water, I didn't use a camera with the other hand......

Google knows where to find a lot of images of scarlet cleaner shrimp.

Pipe fish.

I can count six pipe fish in the next image.

I think these are real plants with the pipe fish, but I'm not sure.  Love all the curls.......

Sea horse.

The Toronto aquarium has a tunnel you can walk through.

Their big tank has green sawfish.  These can grow to 24' long.  The ones here were maybe half that long.  They apparently like to drape themselves over the top of the tunnel.  I saw two different ones doing this.

Looking up at the stomach side of the fish.  (Many people with cameras.....)

Did you know fish have nostrils?  I did not.................  I was wondering what those holes were, toward the front of the fish from the mouth.  Nostrils, is what they are.  !!!

"Paired nostrils, or nares, in fish are used to detect odors in water and can be quite sensitive." -- Fish Anatomy - Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission



A closer look at the rostrum.  I bet this was about a yard long.  I read that the toothy bits are specialized scales.  So many are broken -- I bet they grow them back after they are damaged.......

The aquarium has a lot of anemones.

Many different colors.

Many different shapes.  This one's bottom was stuck to the glass.

One last look at critters in the aquarium.

The sky was amazing.

Clouds, the moon, and a sea gull.

It looked like clouds were spinning around the top of the CN tower.....

 
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August 15 -- yet more fishes, and a few birds

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Of course there is a shop....  I sort of liked this tshirt.  But I didn't buy one.

Sea horses!  This was an odd tank.  Pretty big, nearly empty.  That sharp-looking gravel on the bottom and some ... plants?  Plants, or fake plants, I wasn't sure.

This leafy-looking critter has its nose at left (pointed down toward gravel) and its tail at right.

I believe there were two kinds of sea horses in this tank.  Those leafy yellow ones, and these speckledy striped ones.  So hard to see them against that busy gravel noise.  Wish they were against sand, which would be plainer and make them easier to see.  I'm sure the aquarium is taking care of them properly, but sometimes proper care and ease of photography are in conflict.................

A couple of close-ups.....

The Aquarium has penguins.  I believe these are macaroni penguins, for the fancy yellow feathers on the sides of their heads.

I wonder if the sticks and stones mean attempts at nest building may be underway.....

I tried and tried and tried to upload a video of the jellyfish moving around, but Blogger Will. Not. Load. It.

Sigh.



So here's a cruddy photograph of the jellyfish......... 

Jellyfish are polar opposite of the sessile animals we've seen.  While these have some control over where they go, they are also easily pushed by currents of water.........

More sessile animals.  I have no idea what these are.  I can't remember ever seeing anything like them.

Another speckledy fish.  I love that green curve of the plant, coming toward and up behind the fish.

Sturgeon! 

Sturgeon have been around since the time of the dinosaurs.  They have changed very little in all those millions of years.  They are in grave danger of extinction due to human predation and habitat destruction.

We got to pet the sturgeon!  They felt like suede.  With hard bumps where you'd predict, given what they look like.  How cool to get to touch something whose extremely similar ancestors were here so long ago...............

And how weird to get to pet sturgeon in Chicago, but not one (1) dog....................



This section of the Aquarium might have been about the Great Lakes.  I know there are (were?) sturgeon here, and trout as well.  I think I read a sign for these, but didn't get its pic.

I believe these are brook trout.  I think that white edge on the underneath fins means brook trout.

Hmm.  Not in the Great Lakes any more, I'm pretty sure.  This was big.  12-15"? 

Another tank.  This one wanted to rest on  the floor.  A bigger one that looked just like it pushed it away from this spot, but the moment it could, it came right back here.

At least three kinds of anemones (green, at right, yellow, at left, and two little ones with orange-ish centers white-ish surrounds, above the yellow one).  Maroon sea urchin, orange sea star.

Blue sea star.  Definitely carrying the tips of its legs up.

Little green fish with hot-pink anemones.

I hadn't noticed, before seeing this "on the big screen" how much the fish's shiny belly was reflecting all that pink.....

Believe it or not, this is a lobster.  It's lying down, with its head toward the left, and its bottom in the corner.  It's got its left claw in front of its face.  I actually managed to capture the signage, which says it is "one in a million;" that this color is the result of a mutation.

Moray eels (see the nose of the second one, upper left?), and anemones.

A close look at those pits around the edges of its mouth.... I know sharks have senses we do not -- for sending motion, and electrical fields.....  I'm wondering if moray eels have something like that, too.  I looked, but didn't find any info about this.

Sea urchin.  I bet they lose this color when dead; I have never seen any sea urchin spines that were bright colors.

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