Ted’s Fishroom

A Visit to the

Monterey Bay Aquarium

July, 2007

My wife and I took a a trip out to California the week before the ACA convention in Sacramento, and one of our days was spent in Monterey to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  This is one of the most popular aquariums in the country, and I think that designation is well deserved.  We were there on a weekday and the crowd of visitors was impressive.  Here is a look at the entrance to the Aquarium.

The first thing that struck me about this facility is how they managed to retain the ambiance of a cannery, which is what most of the buildings along the wharf in Monterey were at one time.  The aquarium even has a diplay of old canning equipment.  The second thing that struck me was that the aquarium does not overtly direct the flow of traffic.  The space in the main gallery is pleasantly open, and the large viewing windows can be seen from a long way off.  One disadvantage is that we ended up missing one whole display gallery, the one with Lake Tanganyika cichlids and otters, because we did not know that it was there and did not notice signage telling us to go to it.

The open area is well decorated.  I really like the large full scale models of marine mammals.  This aquarium is mostly displaying the creatures and habitats of Monterey Bay, and there are plenty of marine mammals to consider.  The facility is not designed to accomdate whales, so the models are a good alternative.  Truthfully, I am not a fan of the marine mammal exhibits in most aquariums.  Unlike fish aquariums they are rarely realistic.

 

The centerpiece exhibit is the two story kelp forest tank with live kelp.  There are only two aquariums I have stood in front of and felt that I could stand there all day.  One is at the Georgia Aquarium (Ocean Voyager exhibit) and the other is this aquarium.  The shape is irregular and there are two main viewing areas.  One end has a several single story windows of various shapes and sizes.  At the other end there are a set of two story windows that can be viewed from both the upper and lower levels in the building.  Because the main gallery is very open these large windows can be seen from the other side of the building.

 

The plants in the tank are giant kelp, the largest plant (algae actually) along the west coast of North America.  This plant is the foundation organism in the ecosystem, and the habitat it creates is analogous to coral reef or rain forest.  All the other organisms are adapted for life in the kelp forest.  There are some very unique creatures here.  I really like the dversity of fish in this tank, ranging from a school of anchovies to leopard sharks.  The following thumbnail images show fish in this aquarium.

       

This tank is possible because of the lighting the kelp gets.  All natural… the tank is open to the sun.  Here is a view of the top of the aquarium.

 

The main building is pretty much dedicated to the Monterey Bay shoreline.  There are displays for other types of fish and for sea otters.  Many of the fish found in the rocks under the kelp forest are small, so there are several aquariums scaled down to feature these smaller organisms.  Here are some of the smaller fish and invertebrates of the kelp forest and rocky coast of the bay.

     

   

The main level also has an outdoor observation deck that overlooks the bay.  The aquarium offers some very cool activities such as kayaking out over the kelp forest or scuba diving in the lagoon immediately behind the aquarium.

 

There are a couple nice aquarium displays outside as well.  One is a freshwater stream display with plants and animals native to the coastal streams the drain from the nearby mountains of northern California.  There is a great colony of sticklebacks, but the photo conditions were not optimum.  Here is a picture of the display, followed by the best image I have of the fish.

 

The most impressive tank out on the deck is a rocky coast tide pool display that has a huge wave of water crash into it at regular intervals.  The back of the tank is glass that can be viewed through from inside the building.  The water crashes into the pool from over the glass, so if you are inside the water rushed over your head and you get to view the crashing of the wave from inside the wave.  This is a very different perspective.  Here is a picture of the wave coming in over the glass wall at the back of the display, followed by a series of pictures taken of the wave from above.

 

  

The Monterey Bay Aquarium also has areas for education and visitor interaction.  The Kelp Lab uses hands on activities to teach about the life cycle of kelp algae.  There is also a rocky tide pool touch tank. 

 

The sandy shoreline is not neglected. There is a nice display that includes fish, reptiles (tutles) and birds from teh marsh habitat found alond some parts of Monterey Bay.

  

An additional building houses the displays of the deep and open water areas of Monterey Bay.  The entrace to this area is absolutely awesome.  There is a huge circular tank overhead with a school of sardines so large that there is no break in it around the entire length of the tank.

 

Another tank is this building is similar but it holds mackeral, the next step up int he food chain above the sardines.  I like the neutral blue color that the aquarium chose for these tanks.  The fish on display are open water, and the lack of structure in the tank emphasizes the point that these species exist in a habitat without structure.

 

Just about every aquarium I go to these days has a jellyfish display.  I really like the one at Monterey Bay because it is well lit and also uses that neutral blue background.  The jellies are truly striking in thise setting.  The kids in the picture ended up in the shot because they were so mesmerized by the jellyfish that they stood there long enough for me to lose patience waiting for them to move on.  That says a lot about how engaging the displays at this aquarium are.

 

This building also has a huge aquarium with large open water predators.  There was a great white shark in this exhibit at one point, and hopefully the aquarium will get the chance to try again.  The room with that tank was so dimly lit, however, I was not able to get a good photograph of it.

After spending the morning in the aquarium we chose a great seafood restaurant right on the water to have lunch.  I am kicking myself for not remembering the place’s name, but the food was awesome… and so was the view.  Just outside the window where we sat were some rocks that harbor seals were using to bask on.  Waves were disrupting their naps though.  Here is a picture of one seal going to great pains to stay on its rock and to stay as dry as possible.  It would arch its body up like this for every wave… and I think it kept its eyes closed the whole time!

I mentioned previously that we missed one whole gallery.  That just means that we will have to go back.  I want to take my boys next time.  We had a fantastic vacation in California, and the day spent at the Monterey Bay Aquarium was one of the highlights.  I will close this tour with a parting shot of a deep water crab, which I think is the best picture I took all day.

If you would like to leave a comment about your visit to Monterey Bay Aquarium, please feel free to do so.