WheatToast
2500 Club Member
I took a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium back on Friday, July 22, 2022. It's probably been about 6 years since I last visited and my latest visit did not disappoint. Here are some cool finds and observations:
I always wondered why the stipe of bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) tapers so much further down the kelp:
Giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) can grow up to five inches a day at the aquarium, so it must be regularly trimmed. The trimmings are placed in the tide pools and wither away without a holdfast (low flow as well, I would assume):
Wild sea palm (Postelsia palmaeformis) is the only macroalgae that is illegal to harvest here in CA to my knowledge. Wild eelgrass (Zostera marina) and surfgrass (Phyllospadix scouleri) are also illegal to harvest but these are vascular plants:
A Squarepants family reunion? Orange puffball sponge (Tethya aurantia):
Great smiles! Rock scallops (Crassadoma gigantea):
Chestnut cowries (Neobernaya spadicea) seem to be pretty common in the trade despite originating from relatively cold waters:
And Miss Appear... now you see her... now you don't. Pacific angelshark (Squatina californica):
You're swimming too fast! Pacific spiny dogfish (Squalus suckleyi):
The giant powerhead that is so powerful, you can see it vibrate. Clumsy mysid shrimp (Mysida sp.) were swimming right next to the glass, but were too small to photograph:
The egg case of the California skate (Beringraja inornata). Didn't they once put little windows into the eggs to view the developing skates?
What are they thinking? Spotted cusk-eels (Chilara taylori):
Wait... they can do that too?!
The worm whose common name shall not be mentioned here (Urechis caupo):
So much eelgrass (Zostera marina)! This really makes me want to set up a temperate marine tank again:
Good afternoon! A bat ray (Myliobatis californica) and round stingray (Urobatis halleri) engage in spy hopping:
I think this round stingray (Urobatis halleri) is expecting pups!
You just can't avoid these things here on the West Coast. Sand crabs (Emerita analoga):
So much macroalgae and seagrass!
I just love the color contrast between pink coralline algae (Corallinales sp.) and green surfgrass (Phyllospadix scouleri)! This image reminds me of a setup I saw on Nano-Reef, but I cannot find it online anymore:
Battered by the waves, 24/7:
Coralline algae (Corallinales sp.) and toadstool algae (Cladophora sp.) in the surge:
Without the light, this crystal jelly (Aequorea victoria) would disappear into the blue. They had an option to turn off the light, but I didn't capture an image of this:
The hypnotic bait ball of Pacific sardines (Sardinops sagax caeruleus). Two of them got separated from the school and were consumed by the scalloped hammerheads (Sphyrna lewini):
Pelagic stingrays (Pteroplatytrygon violacea) are some of my favorite rays. They just look so odd and majestic! Apparently, captive individuals have been observed spitting water when they want food:
This ocean sunfish (Mola mola) was having some difficulty navigating the tank. Apparently, the individual was a new addition:
I have never seen the aquarium's "bubble wall" turn on though I have heard of it from documentaries before. It deters the pelagic animals from colliding with the viewing window when guests are not around:
A pelagic red crab (Pleuroncodes planipes) slowly floats down before shooting backwards, up towards the surface:
I almost thought this was mucus for a second. Common siphonophore (Nanomia bijuga):
Wicked bloody-belly comb jelly (Lampocteis cruentiventer). I do not know what the "curly lines" within the ctenophore are, but they look neat:
Where are we in the universe? Sea angel (Clione sp.):
These mushroom soft corals (Anthomastus ritteri) reminds me of clove polyps (Clavularia sp.):
I assume these predatory tunicates (Megalodicopia hians) prefer to seek refuge in bright green warp pipes:
This tadpole snailfish (Nectoliparis pelagicus) has seen things:
Bubblegum coral (Paragorgia arborea) as tall as a small child. These seem to be more pink in the wild:
A fake squid:
A real squid. Bigfin reef squid (Sepioteuthis lessoniana):
A striped pyjama squid (Sepioloidea lineolata) sits nexts to a pair of ghost shrimp (Palaemonetes sp.) devouring one of their own kind:
Tumbling stumpy cuttlefish eggs (Sepia bandensis). If I remember correctly, clumps of these sometimes enter the trade:
The king of vermetid snails (Vermetidae sp.) is here to haunt your nightmares:
An enormous red gorgonian (Lophogorgia chilensis). A hobbyist's dream:
]
Branching coralline (Corallinales sp.) and the shell of a jeweled top snail (Calliostoma annulatum):
A nudibranch family and their many eggs (Diaulula sandiegensis, Peltodoris nobilis, and Cadlina luteomarginata):
This tank allows you to lower the water level and expose a northern clingfish (Gobiesox maeandricus) to the air:
A gorgeous photosynthetic plating sponge (Collospongia sp.):
Behold the field of sun coral (Tubastraea sp.):
Mounds of red macroalgae (Rhodophyta sp.) in the aquarium's manmade tide pool:
And here is all the Botryocladia (Botryocladia pseudodichotoma and probably Botryocladia skottsbergii) I found. There's just so much of this algae!
I hope you enjoyed!
I always wondered why the stipe of bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) tapers so much further down the kelp:
Giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) can grow up to five inches a day at the aquarium, so it must be regularly trimmed. The trimmings are placed in the tide pools and wither away without a holdfast (low flow as well, I would assume):
Wild sea palm (Postelsia palmaeformis) is the only macroalgae that is illegal to harvest here in CA to my knowledge. Wild eelgrass (Zostera marina) and surfgrass (Phyllospadix scouleri) are also illegal to harvest but these are vascular plants:
A Squarepants family reunion? Orange puffball sponge (Tethya aurantia):
Great smiles! Rock scallops (Crassadoma gigantea):
Chestnut cowries (Neobernaya spadicea) seem to be pretty common in the trade despite originating from relatively cold waters:
And Miss Appear... now you see her... now you don't. Pacific angelshark (Squatina californica):
You're swimming too fast! Pacific spiny dogfish (Squalus suckleyi):
The giant powerhead that is so powerful, you can see it vibrate. Clumsy mysid shrimp (Mysida sp.) were swimming right next to the glass, but were too small to photograph:
The egg case of the California skate (Beringraja inornata). Didn't they once put little windows into the eggs to view the developing skates?
What are they thinking? Spotted cusk-eels (Chilara taylori):
Wait... they can do that too?!
The worm whose common name shall not be mentioned here (Urechis caupo):
So much eelgrass (Zostera marina)! This really makes me want to set up a temperate marine tank again:
Good afternoon! A bat ray (Myliobatis californica) and round stingray (Urobatis halleri) engage in spy hopping:
I think this round stingray (Urobatis halleri) is expecting pups!
You just can't avoid these things here on the West Coast. Sand crabs (Emerita analoga):
So much macroalgae and seagrass!
I just love the color contrast between pink coralline algae (Corallinales sp.) and green surfgrass (Phyllospadix scouleri)! This image reminds me of a setup I saw on Nano-Reef, but I cannot find it online anymore:
Battered by the waves, 24/7:
Coralline algae (Corallinales sp.) and toadstool algae (Cladophora sp.) in the surge:
Without the light, this crystal jelly (Aequorea victoria) would disappear into the blue. They had an option to turn off the light, but I didn't capture an image of this:
The hypnotic bait ball of Pacific sardines (Sardinops sagax caeruleus). Two of them got separated from the school and were consumed by the scalloped hammerheads (Sphyrna lewini)
:
Pelagic stingrays (Pteroplatytrygon violacea) are some of my favorite rays. They just look so odd and majestic! Apparently, captive individuals have been observed spitting water when they want food:
This ocean sunfish (Mola mola) was having some difficulty navigating the tank. Apparently, the individual was a new addition:
I have never seen the aquarium's "bubble wall" turn on though I have heard of it from documentaries before. It deters the pelagic animals from colliding with the viewing window when guests are not around:
A pelagic red crab (Pleuroncodes planipes) slowly floats down before shooting backwards, up towards the surface:
I almost thought this was mucus for a second. Common siphonophore (Nanomia bijuga):
Wicked bloody-belly comb jelly (Lampocteis cruentiventer). I do not know what the "curly lines" within the ctenophore are, but they look neat:
Where are we in the universe? Sea angel (Clione sp.):
These mushroom soft corals (Anthomastus ritteri) reminds me of clove polyps (Clavularia sp.):
I assume these predatory tunicates (Megalodicopia hians) prefer to seek refuge in bright green warp pipes:
This tadpole snailfish (Nectoliparis pelagicus) has seen things:
Bubblegum coral (Paragorgia arborea) as tall as a small child. These seem to be more pink in the wild:
A fake squid:
A real squid. Bigfin reef squid (Sepioteuthis lessoniana):
A striped pyjama squid (Sepioloidea lineolata) sits nexts to a pair of ghost shrimp (Palaemonetes sp.) devouring one of their own kind:
Tumbling stumpy cuttlefish eggs (Sepia bandensis). If I remember correctly, clumps of these sometimes enter the trade:
The king of vermetid snails (Vermetidae sp.) is here to haunt your nightmares:
An enormous red gorgonian (Lophogorgia chilensis). A hobbyist's dream:
]Branching coralline (Corallinales sp.) and the shell of a jeweled top snail (Calliostoma annulatum):
A nudibranch family and their many eggs (Diaulula sandiegensis, Peltodoris nobilis, and Cadlina luteomarginata):
This tank allows you to lower the water level and expose a northern clingfish (Gobiesox maeandricus) to the air
:
A gorgeous photosynthetic plating sponge (Collospongia sp.):
Behold the field of sun coral (Tubastraea sp.):
Mounds of red macroalgae (Rhodophyta sp.) in the aquarium's manmade tide pool:
And here is all the Botryocladia (Botryocladia pseudodichotoma and probably Botryocladia skottsbergii) I found. There's just so much of this algae!
I hope you enjoyed!
