Monterey Bay Aquarium Part 1

As mentioned in the previous entries I traveled to Monterey Bay this weekend to visit the aquarium. My dad has always loved fish and I've always been a bit of a fish hater. I mean fish are kind of boring as a pet, and the few we tried to have generally died pretty quickly so I was a little wary of visiting the aquarium, but I figured adventuring with friends is generally a good thing.

I'll confess I was focusing more on photography than the signs marking the specific species in the tanks. I'm pretty sure this is an anemone, though I'm not certain of what kind.

Some of these were easier to photograph than others, as the other fish in the tank would often quickly swim past right when I took a picture. Also, it seemed a little like this one was watching me.

It's interesting how some of these look more like "flowers" and others like aliens. I thought this one looked like a tooth-monster.

The aquarium had a touch exhibit where you could interact with some of the animals. Starfish feel a bit more "rubbery" than I expected. It's a very interesting texture!

I forget what this thing was, but it was really interesting. It kind of looks like it got some kind of disease but that's just how it's supposed to be. It had a spongey feel and despite how the fleshy part of the animal looks I think the shell is quite pretty.

The last creature I held was the decorator crab. These are really cool, but difficult to photograph as they blend into their surroundings very well. This little guy "shook" my finger. I am guess that was actually him being kind of aggressive, but I thought his little claws were super cute.

I  have so many more aquarium pictures to share but I think any more here would be overwhelming. You'll notice this is just part one and I'm planning on at the very least having a post dedicated to jellyfish and another dedicated to seahorses (which were my favorite  exhibit).


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