Saturday, May 30, 2009

Under the Sea

Last Saturday we went to the Largest indoor tank aquarium in the world, The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta! The first fish you see as you enter the aquarium are the tanks of yellowfin Tuna! The largest tank has over 6.3 million gallons of water in their "Ocean Adventure" tank. This aquarium has four whale sharks in this tank along with several other types of sharks, rays and a myriad of other sea life. This was the largest of the young whale sharks, she is 22 ft. long.

Notice this young Manta Ray (only 8 - 10 ft. across) and right underneath it is a juvenile sting ray (about 1 1/2 ft. across) I guess the manta rays will grow up to 22 ft. across.

After the big tank we went to the "Cold Ocean"/ Artic ocean exhibit.

We got to pet the sea anemones. Since they are 95% water you almost had to look to see if you were touching them.

These Giant Japanese Spider Crabs are a lot bigger than they appear.

Look at how big they are compared to the man's hand!

The Beluga Whales were a favorite .... Is she looking at us?

Cody, Skye and Ryan Whale watching!

More beautiful Belugas..

And the green whale is about to get beached..... so to speak. :-)

This is where my hip went out AGAIN!! Luckily, Darryl grabbed me. The Aquarium worker standing nearby wanted to call in the EMT's for help! Darryl said "nah... There is no help for her."
Okay... These little guys were amazing. They are called "Garden Eels". Ryan says that on the ocean floor they are so thick they look like a seaweed or grass. They were mesmerizing to watch. I have a short video of them below.

I liked these pretty fish. They had so many beautiful and vibrant colored fish here. It is impossible to explain to you how big, both in area and in aquatic life, this aquarium is.

Skye and Ryan "Under the Sea". Actually, I think this exhibit was Darryl's favorite. It was in the Rivers and Streams exhibit. Of course I think Darryl might have liked the architechture and finish work as much as the fish.

This Loggerhead turtle was in the "Georgia" sea life exhibit.
The following video clips are pretty short, but I thought they were interesting. I forgot to post the Jelly fish pictures. maybe I can talk Cody into putting them up on his site.
Here are the Garden eels popping up and down. They are so Cool!!!


This video is from the tunnel going under the Big Tank. Darryl was amazed not only with the fish but also with the super strength caulk that was holding the pieces of plexiglass together.


More of the Big Tank.

This guy was looking up at us from the bottom of the big Tank.



Until next time..... Be seeing you!

5 comments:

Corey said...

mmm.. slice that tuna up and slap it on a plate with some wasabi and soy sauce!

Kelly and Jesse said...

Looks like fun!!!

Jessica said...

Awesome pics! Looks like you guys are having tons of fun, as usual!

Hillary and Jake said...

what is that creepy thing in the last video?

Jacob and Cami said...

I can't wait for sea world!