Fish and More Fish! Day 13

Monday, August 18, 2014:  This morning, after Michael went to Lego Camp with his good friend, Kevin, and Mary went to the office, Dave and I went back to the Boston Harbor area to tour the New England Aquarium.  I personally haunt aquariums!  I love them and have visited many on the east coast of the States.

The New England Aquarium features Penguins!

Large, friendly birds, they fly like jets through water.

This Right Whale skeleton is suspended above the Penguin Exhibit.  It is called 'right' because (according to Dave, whose degree is in Marine Biology) it was the right whale to hunt in the New England waters.  It was hunted nearly to extinction; few are in the ocean today.

Note the grayish-colored whale 'fin' bones: they look like a human hand!  The whale is a mammal; its young are born alive. It is NOT a fish!  The very large skeleton is visible from all levels of the immense central aquarium saltwater tank.

The Seals were very entertaining and quick in the water!

Very nice Harbor view from the Aquarium stairway.

Clownfish or "Nemos"

Dave and I had reservations for an Imax 3-D movie at noon, "Journey to the South Pacific," wonderful, amazing, so real we felt we were wet!

The Cuttlefish has tentacles in the front like octopus or squid (a Cephalopod), changes colors to match its surroundings; its fins look like lacey doilies, ruffling in the water as it propels itself forward. 

The Emperor Angelfish.

A Blue Clam.  They come in many colors and sizes.

The Moray Eel.

This quite large sea turtle has its head very close to the window of the aquarium.

One of the Rays.  I took dozens of photos, trying to capture a good one.

A diver at the top of the tank appears to be cleaning rocks as the fish swim past her.  Meanwhile, an aquarium narrator is telling the crowd surrounding the top of the tank about the tank: it is 22 feet deep and 40 feet wide.  Lights above it are turned off at night so the fish are in a normal sleep cycle (I didn't know that fish 'slept').  He mentioned that many folks ask, "Why don't these fish eat each other?"  The answer is that, in the wild, they may eat once every two weeks.  At the aquarium, they are fed twice a day. Also, dead fish are quickly removed.  Another question was, "Do they reproduce in the tank?"  Answer: No. Their eggs are filtered out by the water system.

A sea Cucumber: in the same category as sea stars (an animal).

A rare blue Lobster, moving backwards (my favorite animal of the whole aquarium!).

The Goosefish or 'angler.'  it has a 'protuberance' behind its eyes that tempt small fish to come close so it can eat them!

Beautiful anemones of many colors with a bright red Sea Star.

The common Flounder.  How well it is camouflaged!  It swims sideways and has one eye on top of its head.

Sea Dragons.  They look like twigs with leaves!

Control tower, Logan International Airport, photo from parking structure close to the aquarium.

Another view of the airport Hyatt Hotel (the one with the top three floor windows blacked out!), taken from parking structure.

Something new to me: "Zip" lines: the two rows of concrete barriers.  These are opened during morning and afternoon rush hours to provide an extra traffic lane for vehicles going into Boston (a.m.) and leaving Boston (p.m.).  The extra lane is for commuters only, with two or more people in the vehicle (H.O.V. - High Occupancy Vehicle - lane).  After Dave explained what this accomplished to me, I told him about our Lexington, Kentucky, solution: 'Xs' on the traffic signals in the changing lanes on the major road to the city's largest employer, the University of Kentucky.

The 'Zip' truck: it passes over the side of choice and moves it:  Cool!

Tonight we are all tired and called for pizza.  Yum!