OK, you all, this is just a preliminary, to get the pictures out there so you can enjoy them. These are just a selection of some of the best, but since these were from Thanksgiving and it’s almost Christmas, I figured I’d better take the time to get them off of CD and onto the computer. These are only the ones which were actual film … yes, sad sad, that film makes it onto digital faster than I can be bothered to unload the digital camera. In any event, here’re some pics from Monterey Bay Aquarium.
 |
This is a lovely, pale pink sea polyp of some sort, which is basically a variation on an anemone – basic anchoring foot, big mouth, lots of little feeler-y things to help it feed. We saw a lot of this type of thing. |
| Another marvelous little anemone, snuggled down in the midst of a bunch of other, um, things… |
 |
More of the little buggers. |
|
This is a lion’s mane jelly, I think. Since they hardly stayed still for us to catalog, I have to go by guess… but the fringed edges resemble a lion’s mane, thus the name. Either that, or it’s one of the purple striped jellies. |
 |
|
This is a blue jelly, though it looks kind of green… |
 |
 |
And this one just seemed to kind of twitch against the bottom of its tank. I think it was sleeping, or something. It’s an upside down jelly, and it is described to look like a bouquet of flowers… apparently these scientists don’t get a lot of flowers… |
These next jellies are black sea nettle jellies, with the looong tentacles.
 |
Might I add the looong, stinging tentacles…
 |
These are called Mediterranean jellies, or fried egg jellies, since they have flat tops that sort of …vaguely… resemble an egg. Again – the scientists just don’t get out that much. And ugh — would you eat this!?
|
These have got an underside only a biologist could love.
Okay — I think they’re pretty, too. This is a juvenile purple striped jelly, from the flipside.
Right side up, their stubby little underskirts are pretty striking.
 |
There were a half ton of jellies that we saw that simply wouldn’t photograph well, including the luminous moon jellies, box jellies, and the comb jellies, which looked like they had electric current running through them. We moved on, though, to the dramatically overcrowded, and full-of-evil-parents-and-their-bratified-children otter gallery… these shots were taken as a reward for standing still for about fifteen minutes with umpteemillion people pressed against the back of us.
Have to admit, though, the blighters are worth it. They look like undersized bears. Or something scary you find rummaging in the trash when you’re camping. Half raccoon, half… something else, they really have large yellow teeth you wouldn’t want to see in person. No, really wouldn’t want to see. They’re cute, but a bit random.
 |
And so, the otter looks for someone to play with, after a lovely bath… |
 |
(…and hanging onto its surrogate shellfish, which is much nicer than a real shellfish, since it has a ready-made spot for hiding treats, yet floats, which gives the trainers some relief…) |
They’re quite pitiful, really; you should see the agonized looks they give the trainers as they beg for just a tidbit — not that they’re not fed something like four times a day, but nonetheless, they beg…
| …and when there’s no food forthcoming, they zip back into the water in great disgust, then nose up to the glass as if we’re going to feed them. |  |
Meanwhile, this is an exhibit that smelled… well, like bird guano.
I felt like I was at the zoo, or in my parent’s backyard with the menagerie.
 |
Good old penguins. Yay. Of course, our Mac spotted the happy couple in the back. |
We found a small, quiet bird sanctuary just about the time we were exhausted and ready to drop from the crowds and the whinging of other people’s kids.
There are curlews and stilts in this little area, and the occasional wee sandpiper, which are skittish and shy and really cute.
However, the sharp beak doesn’t encourage really cuddling them.
The colors we saw were just great. The tidepool exhibit takes you back to the fun of scrambling round the rocks at low tide, getting your pantlegs all cold and soppy, turning over rocks to find out what’s underneath.
 |
Believe it or not, this is called a sea pen, and when it’s standing upright, it looks like a plumed “pen” from back in the olden days when people wrote with… feathers. |
| The marvels of using a polarizing lense mean that I can see through water without any of the pesky reflections. Fab! |  |
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.