Continuing my immersion in the aquarium world, I headed down to visit Holly Bourbon at the National Aquarium. Diving within the tanks allowed me lots of time to practice with the camera and give lots of fish sand baths. I made fast friends with a pork fish who would swim alongside me throughout the dives, and it was so fun to see how interactive some of the fish are and how some really don’t mind my camera lights. I was surprised how big the puffer fish were!
On my second day I spent the morning shadowing the team feeding the rays and Zuri the leopard shark. I also helped with food prep and got to tour behind many of the galleries. It was really cool to hear about how all the galleries are maintained and how the coral is grown. I learned that the touch tank jellies exhibit has jets and slanted walls to help them circulate and flow easily throughout the tank. I also got to see some feedings in the exhibits and shark alley. The sawfish were so cool! Then I got back in the water in the afternoon, searching for the new moray eel Gerkin, who has been hiding and taking a few photos around the exhibit practicing with the camera.
Day three was spent in the new Harbor Wetland exhibit, making finishing touches and getting it cleaned up for the opening. It was lots of fun, but very sad to see how much trash is in our water and getting washed up against the new wetland area. On the plus side, we also saw lots of wild ducks happily hanging out near the new habitat and poking around. The team that built the wetland did a fabulous job and it looked great!
I also got to spend time with the Jelly exhibit team! It was so cool to learn about the jelly life cycle which is drastically different from most other animal life cycles. They showed me around behind the exhibits and lab where they culture the jellies. My favorite part was seeing the different life cycles of the jellies under the microscope! I got to see the planula (fertilized free-floating egg with cilia so they can move around), the polyp (stationary asexual phase), and ephyra (free floating phase that starts to look more like a jellyfish). It was incredible! I also got to view what they eat under the scope including krill and rotifer, and I also learned about the complexity of the water quality control of the exhibits. I learned the curved shape of the exhibits is for flow as the jellies cannot move much on their own and rely on current to help them get around. They told me keeping jellies in the exhibit is like “keeping an antelope on the moon” (a quote by David Oyedepo), a visual that stuck with me to remember how complex it is.
On my last day I was able to go over to the animal care and rehabilitation center where I got to see many of the animals who are off exhibit for the time being due to retirement, quarantine, construction, and more. The facility was much larger and newer than I had experienced at the New England aquarium. I saw many freshwater turtles including pig nose and snake neck turtles. I learned that it is possible for turtles who have been hit by boats to get gas stuck in their carapaces making them positively buoyant and unable to stay down. In the afternoon I got to hop in the water and explore Black Tip Reef. It was really fun to swim around with all the large sharks and rays. You can’t appreciate the ray’s sizes until you are down next to them. I also met Cena, a Humphead Wrasse, who is slowly turning from female to supermale as she grows larger and turns bright blue! I had a wonderful time with Holly showing me around. Thank you so much Holly and the National Aquarium team!
