Monterey Bay Aquarium- a must go for all aquarium geeks

stevenliu9

Among the list of places to visit, #1 for me are all the national parks around the world for the beautiful natural scenery. #2 is all the aquariums around the world to see the amazing display, and support the scientific researches in these institutions.

With my visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, now I have a new ranking of the Aquariums by display, animal health, education, research, service, friendliness, facility, give back to the community, etc.

Now Monterey Bay Aquarium sits atop of that list:
1. Monterey Bay Aquarium
2. National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium
3. Vancouver Aquarium
4. Georgia Aquarium
5. Waikiki Aquarium

All of the rest of the aquariums I have visited are either way too commercialized, have unhealthy animals, poor service or facility, and/or poor display design. And I will have to mention again that so far the Shanghai Aquarium safely sits at that last position.

I will let the photos do the talking rest of the way.

Quick fact- the Monterey Bay Aquarium spends 3/4 of a million dollars just on feeding their livestock. Especially all the sea otters who only eats premium oysters, shellfish, and crabs
One of the 2 dozes of jelly fish displays at the aquarium
Though reef tank is not common here, the ones they have are very beautiful and healthy

World’s first captivity kelp forest. Did you know that the Kelp Forest in the ocean produce just as much oxygen as the Amazon forest?
This albatros is a permanent resident and an ambassador here.
The vet clinic at the aqurium. The surgical table is for otters. Otters are so well insulated, that if they are not in water and are under the surgical light, staff members must put ice on all of its paws to prevent the little thing from overheating.
The Aquarium’s little lagoon where used seawater will exit, and fresh waters drawn from 500ft off the shore daily.
Behind the scene, FSW stands for “filtered sea water”, RSW is “raw sea water”. Raw sea water is drawn directly from the ocean and is rich in nutrient for the kelp forest tank. But filtered seawater supplies the need for clean water for rest of the systems here.

The open ocean tank. There are 30,000 anchovies in this tank serve as both part of the display, but also live food for the mahi mahi and tuna in here.
At today’s feeding show, they are feeding krill to the anchovy. This lures them closer to the surface, and while they surface, the mahi mahi came out to hunt
The Kelp forest is full of life

That is a LOT of brittle starfish