Since it would be a long time before heading into the ocean we had to go check out an aquarium. They had lots of different cool animals. This is just a very big lobster.
Here’s a water dragon that was in their freshwater enclosure.
They had lots of different fish.
As well as many coral tanks. Here you can see some anemone.
These anemone are a bit fatter looking.
There were also really cool animals attached to the side of the glass.
The pictures don’t really capture it but they pulsate to circulate water around to collect food.
This is a stone…..fish. You may be able to see why people step on them by accident. This is why Kerri wanted steel bottom water shoes, as these guys are also very deadly.
Back outside the scary tanks there were several types of frogs chilling out.
As well as more fish that don’t kill you.
We got to see cuttlefish as well and this one had just laid a clutch of eggs. Those are all the weird blobs hanging down.
Much to our surprise and delight they have dugongs. These are related to the manatee but live over here.
They have a tale more similar to a whale or dolphin.
They look really funny while they eat.
And they have to eat a lot. every 15 minutes more food is tossed in.
Nom nom nom.
What we didn’t realize is that rays will also eat lettuce and would dive in to get some too.
They would only take about 10 minutes to clear out the tray.
But then a refill would come on down shortly after.
We managed to pull ourselves away from the dugongs and were treated with different species of seahorses.
And more funky looking fish.
As well as additional types of anemone.
There were some big cod in other large tanks.
In those tanks were also sharks. I think this is a nurse shark. It may be a lemon.
Kerri got some interesting pictures of the inside of mouths. You can see rows and rows of teeth.
There were also sawtooth sharks.
They use the long projection to shift up the sand and they eat the animals hanging out on the ocean floor.
The tips are very sensitive which allow them to find lots of food.
This is the other type of shark in the nurse shark vs lemon shark. Again you can see lots of rows of teeth, but both these species are not dangerous to people. Unless you try to pick them out of the water.
They look odd compared to the sharks we’ve seen previously.
Hi guys! I love the regular glimpses in faraway worlds and cultures. Love it even more now we are back to fish 🙂
The weird pulsating things stuck to the glass are actually jellyfish. Also called upside-down jellyfish as they normally lie upside down on the sand pulsating and waiting for food. Neither of the two types of shark are nurse shark but I’m not very sharky so can’t tell you what they are. The cuttlefish with eggs reminded me off the movie aliens, with a field of pods ready to release little monsters. Fortunately, cuttlefish are cute though some octopi can be more deadly toxic than the stonefish.
Happy travels, Bart