Aquarium 3

So here is another selection of Jellyfish pictures from Monterey Bay Aquarium. After this post I think I will share some pictures of birds that are kept at the aquarium, but first enjoy these beauties.

The large jellyfish in the first few shots is I believe a Black Sea Nettle. A search using Google lens suggested either a Lion's Mane Jellyfish or the black sea nettle and comparing other photos of the different species I am inclined towards the sea nettle. If anyone seeing this knows better then feel free to comment and let me know.

The very delicate, transparent species in the last two shots is a Red-eyed Medusa. Another search using Lens suggested Snow Globe Jellyfish as an alternative but I think the feature which sets this out as a Red-eyed Medusa is the ring of red spots around the rim of the bell, which look like tiny eyes.

Of course had I taken notes when I was at the aquarium I would not have needed to do searches now and I would be able to state with confidence what they are. I often do this, I see something, photograph it and make a mental note convinced that I will remember, but time passes and my head fills up with other more important ( and often less important) stuff, pushing out the facts I wanted to remember. It teaches me, in the moment that I shouldn't rely on my memory. And then as if to prove the point, next time I go somewhere like the aquarium or a zoo I do exactly the same thing, forgetting the lesson I thought I had learned.

The other lesson it teaches me is that despite the many benefits of the internet and all the information that is available online you cannot always rely on it to provide a definitive answer.

I hope you have enjoyed the pictures from these three most recent posts and hopefully you will take note of the lessons that I should learn and not fall into the same mistakes as me. Now, what am I supposed to be doing next...

 

Aquarium 2

 Here is another helping of Jellyfish from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. When I was doing a search to identify what species this is Google's Gemini could only tell me it is a Jellyfish which wasn't much help. There were lots of similar photos online from other visitors to the aquarium, proving that it really is one of the most popular exhibits there.

From the Monterey Bay Aquarium website I learned that this is a Sea Nettle and while many  varieties of jellyfish don't sting this one does. It hunts prey by trailing its long tentacles and frilly "mouth-arms". As prey  creatures (which include young pollock, larval fish, zooplankton and other jellies) touch the tentacles they receive a paralysing sting and then stick tight before being moved to the mouth-arms and then finally into the sea nettle's mouth to be consumed. The bell grows to around 45cm (almost 18" in old money) and the mouth-arms reach 3.6 - 4.6 metres (12- 15 feet). Despite their fearsome reputation they really are quite beautiful and as I said in my last post it is very relaxing watching them.

I will return to jellyfish in my next post so if you have enjoyed these shot please come back for more.

But here is a little bonus for you. As mentioned in the last post I wanted to share a photo of my mate Mark... who is a Hammerhead Shark. There is a children's story My Mate Mark is a Hammerhead Shark by Jeanne Willis. I enjoy reading it with my grandchildren, or at least my eldest grandchild who is 3. At the aquarium he was really excited to see this shark and he could relate it to the character in the story. If you have kids or grandkids its definitely worth a read. Although they can appear quite menacing and like the jellyfish above have a bit of a reputation in this photo he appears as if he is smiling and that makes him seem much less threatening.