Under the sea!
05 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
in February 2011, Photographic year, Projects
I took a ‘quick study break’ today, over to the Sea Life Aquarium in London. I luckily had an annual Merlin pass, so I didn’t have to ‘fish out’ the 20 some pounds it takes for a day pass, but if I hadn’t had the Merlin pass, I’m afraid I would have been a little disappointed. Don’t get me wrong- the aquarium was lovely, and had a wide range of animals, from terrapin and Costa Rican poison dart frogs to sea horses and large sand sharks, but it was a bit small, compared to many of the aquariums I’ve visited, and had just one large shark tank.Though I believe they did make the best of that tank, by expanding viewing windows across three whole floors, I was slightly disappointed by the overall size.
One of my favorite parts of the whole aquarium was a large open tank with flounder and several different types of rays, and I did like the few hands-on experiences that they had out for the children, as well as the fact that they have educational weeks for children and parents alike to raise awareness of current conservation projects and environmental concerns. Still, the majority of the information tablets near the tanks did not give any identification to several of the species within, thus limiting the educational experience. It was not the Georgia aquarium, with beluga whales and whale sharks, nor was it Sea World or Gulf World with dolphins, orca, or otters, nor was it the Autobon with penguins, nor the Tennessee Aquarium with rainbow trout and bass.
Though I may have set my sight too high upon entering, it was still a lovely aquarium with even an educational section on the Thames River, and I’m sure any child would vastly enjoy the experience. The photo I took here was my favorite of my photos from the day, though I would have liked to have had a picture of myself taken with these fantastic jellies, I’m afraid that the camera simply couldn’t focus of both me and the animals at the same time. These are moon jellyfish. They have no brains, no blood, and no heart, yet here they are, swimming around just fine. Nature is fascinating!
