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Where in the World is Steven Pro? Monterey Bay Aquarium
By: Steven Pro
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As someone who travels quite a bit around the country and gets the opportunity to view a large number of both private and public aquariums, it takes something special to get me excited. For example, once you have seen a few SPS coral-dominated displays, you have seen them all. They tend to remind me more and more of my Mother-in-law’s Precious Moments collection, a bunch of acquisitions of allegedly rare or unusual specimens spaced evenly but tightly on shelf, upon shelf, upon shelf. And even public aquariums seem to suffer from the same herd mentality. It is almost as if the American Zoological Association issues a checklist for accreditation, a public aquarium must exhibit no less than four of the following:
• Seahorse or preferably Sea Dragon display
• Penguins for children visitors
• Moon Jellyfish, various colored lighting optional
• Giant Octopus
• Clownfish and anemone tank (extra bonus points if you can include additional characters from Finding Nemo)
• Large tank of sharks (preferably black tip reef sharks for their active nature or sand tiger sharks for their ferocious looking teeth)
So even though I have always heard extremely positive reviews of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, I had somewhat subdued expectations. That was until we arrived in Monterey. We have driven several hours in the early morning to get there from Sacramento in a gray drizzle. But at the end of this journey, we arrived in a very cute little town, found a Starbucks (one of two or three in the area I later found out) to recharge, and began to explore this tourist destination. I enjoyed that early morning walk around the town before the aquarium opened. The town was touristy, but charming nonetheless and would have been perfect, full of non-fish diversions, if my family had been able to make the trip.
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We then made our way over to the aquarium, but it was still a bit early, so my hosts and I chatted on the decks in the back of the aquarium overlooking the kelp beds and wild sea otters foraging in the ocean below. Luckily for us, the rain had pushed on and left nothing more than a lightly overcast, but otherwise beautiful morning. As someone that has lived his entire life on the east coast, the rocky geography of the northern California coastline was both bizarre and stunning all the same. Seeing the sea otters free and frolicking was definitely a highlight for me and help pushed my hope for the visit higher.
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We were then finally permitted to enter the aquarium and I was informed that we would begin our tour with the Jellyfish exhibit. Ugh. I felt my heart sink. I had started to let my expectation rise, but felt as if I was going to witness more of the same old, same old. Instead, I was greeted by a true work of art and I mean that literally. The staff here has placed all their tanks into the wall. No big surprise. Most public aquariums do that. But here, the tanks were trimmed with elaborate woodwork reminiscent of painting frames, in effect creating living artworks. And, in between the live exhibits, the aquarium has acquired sea and jellyfish inspired art pieces. And while most public aquaria have an aquarium or two of jellyfish, this was an entire wing, or better described as a gallery. Walking through and admiring the exhibits was very reminiscent of walking through a museum and appreciating the artwork complete with track lighting accenting and blending the live displays with the art. This was totally different than anything else I had ever seen and while I usually tend to quickly walk right past the jellyfish tanks I have seen in the past, I felt myself lingering in this gallery. Everywhere I turned there was something else to behold. And, the staff has really gone above and beyond in the signage. Detailed descriptions of the living and inanimate artwork was included with every piece, fully seizing upon and embracing their educational mission statement.
I keep using the term jellyfish, although I realize the term has fallen out of favor. Much like starfish are now usually referred to as seastars because they are not truly fish, jellyfish now go by simply jellies. And while I have embraced the change in regards to the echinoderms, I can’t say “jellies” without thinking of those tacky rubber-like shoes from the eighties. Perhaps a younger generation than mine can use the new terminology without being haunted by images of Wham, three button collared shirts with the collars turned up, and those ridiculous shoes.
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Figure 3: The Australian Spotted Jellyfish was one of my favorites. They are absolutely gorgeous! And in keeping with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s educational mission, it was quite interesting to discover from the information sign that they have been introduced into the Gulf of Mexico via ballast water from commercial shipping where they are dramatically changing the environment by devouring fish eggs and larvae. Figure 4: One of the other beautiful creatures in the jellyfish gallery, the graceful sea nettle.
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After leaving the jellyfish display, I got my first opportunity to see the big tank, the one made famous by successfully housing a great white shark. Even though the great white had been released back into the wild sometime ago, this was still a display to admire. At a little over one million gallons, it was impressive both for its shear size as well as its water clarity. Magnificent tuna (both Pacific bluefin and yellowfin), some larger than full-size refrigerators, were flying around the display alongside mahi-mahi, California barracuda, scalloped hammerhead, soupfin sharks, Galapagos sharks, a pelagic stingray, a black sea turtle, and an ocean sunfish. And once feeding time began, the way those huge tuna seemed to effortlessly glide through the water inhaling food amazed me. They were so powerful and graceful. But even the slow moving turtle and sunfish got their fare share because the staff feeds 1,000 pounds of food per week to that tank alone! Still, with all that food going in, I didn’t see one piece hit the bottom of the tank, a testament to how well the staff knows the appetites of the animals in their care as well as their conscientious efforts to keep the tank clean. The closest any piece I watched got was three quarters of the way down before something grabbed it.
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The other display that the Monterey Bay Aquarium is famous for is their live kelp exhibit. The tank is 28 feet tall and holds a little over 300,000 gallons. And while the giant stands of kelp are impressive, I was also astonished to see leopard sharks in captivity approaching their full adult size of 6 ½ feet! Seeing one of these behemoths up close really reinforced my general feeling that these animals are not appropriate for captivity by most hobbyists. They require cool water and a lot of room; standard aquaria sizes are nowhere near large enough. I also just discovered that California law since January 1994 prohibits catching and keeping any leopard sharks with commercial intent that are less than 36” in length. I have seen hundreds of leopard sharks in my time in this hobby and industry. Not one was over 18” with most being around 12” long. That means every single shark I have seen for sale in my career was illegally poached. Kind of sad, isn’t it?
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Figure 6: Everybody sing, “one of these fish is not like the others, one of these fish just doesn’t belong.” It’s amazing how that garibaldi sticks out of the crowd! |
Right near the kelp forest exhibit are some smaller tanks that showcase some gorgeous cold-water reef aquariums. They are every bit as beautiful as the tropical reef displays most of us are more familiar with.
For the tropical reef enthusiasts, have no fear. Monterey Bay Aquarium does have a rather large warm-water reef exhibit area. But, be prepared. The Splash Zone, as it is called, is also a themed area for small children complete with tunnels around and through the exhibits. In contrast to many public aquariums with their darkened corridors with aquariums on each side, this area was brightly lit, colored, and had an overall cheery atmosphere.
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One of the other interesting displays was a simulated sand dune. It was mostly dominated by small sea birds and I am not a big bird fan, having grown up with allergies as a child, but there was one striking feature, which caught my attention. At the end of the sand dune was a small beach complete with wave action. It was the wave maker that intrigued me. It took me a while to figure out how it operated, but I think I finally got it. There is a large white plastic quarter round piece. It is slowly lowered down into the far end of the water. As it goes down, it displaces a large amount of water. Once it is fully submerged, it is abruptly withdrawn. When it leaves, the water rushes into the void, bounces off of the back wall of the tank, and then rolls forward in a gentle wave. It is really quite ingenious, although I am unsure if it could be practically downsized for home aquarium use.
Tying in with their general education theme was the diner exhibit. It was a small 50’s era diner complete with counter and spinning stools. Once seated, you could “order” seafood items from a touch screen menu. After making a selection, three large screen televisions would activate and display a waitress, short order cook, and stock boy interacting with one another and describing to the patrons the ecologically sound and safe choices or alternatively the poor, environmentally unfriendly options on the menu.
I learned a lot from this exhibit. But for those unable to visit this aquarium, you can download a Cliff’s Notes version from the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s website. The staff started a program called Seafood Watch. This program seeks to educate consumers on seafood choices that are conscientious. To learn more about this program, see here: http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp. You can even download and print your own Seafood Watch Card. It is a small folded card jammed pack with information on selecting good seafood. I find myself referencing it routinely.
I did not discuss every exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, as there is far too much to attempt to accurately portray. Instead I focused on the ones I really personally enjoyed and made the biggest impact on me both visually and mentally. The staff at the Monterey Bay Aquarium should be roundly applauded for their creativity. They truly think outside the box in developing their aquarium displays making for an enjoyable yet educational encounter that would be good for the entire family as well as for the most experienced fish geek. If you are ever anywhere in the area, I strongly recommend taking the time out of your schedule to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Related Links:
The Monterey Bay Aquarium website – http://www.mbayaq.org/
Anthony Calfo’s review of the Monterey Bay Aquarium - http://www.wetwebmedia.com/AqSciSubWebIndex/montereybay.htm
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