Freshwater Stingrays, Greater Cleveland Aquarium

A couple of video clips of freshwater stingrays at the shiny new Greater Cleveland Aquarium. I thought I'd taken a photo of the sign so I could remember just what sort of stingrays these are, but I can't find any evidence of that actually happening. I do recall the sign pointing out these are freshwater stingrays, so we know that at least, if it helps.




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moray, waikiki aquarium

A moray eel at the Waikiki Aquarium. I didn't make a note about what sort of moray it was, but it might be a dragon moray, Enchelycore pardalis.

waikiki jellies

Jellyfish at the Waikiki Aquarium. As always, I forgot to note the exact species shown in either video clip, which sort of limits the educational value here. And I could probably have gotten better clips if I'd filmed them with something other than a Blackberry, for instance if my DSLR took video, which it doesn't. And I'm sure they'd be much more relaxing if I added a gentle New-Agey piano soundtrack or something, if I knew anyone who made that sort of music, which I don't. But hey.

Octopus cyanea

A day octopus (Octopus cyanea) at the Waikiki Aquarium.

Sea Otters, Oregon Coast Aquarium

vegas jellyfish

At the aquarium at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas.

jellyfish, oregon coast aquarium

puffins, oregon coast aquarium

crab attack!

Ok, technically these crabs aren't attacking. They're basically just sitting there watching the aquarium tourists wander by. But nobody's going to click on post titled "crabs not doing much", are they?




If you search YouTube for "crab attack", I'd guess rougly 90% of the results are actually crabs trying to look threatening as they run away, chased by camera-wielding divers. If you're going to do that and insist the crab's really attacking you and not the other way around, you might as well go all the way and accuse the crab of hiding WMDs before you chase it. Just sayin'.

camas flowers

Some camas flowers, taken at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Camas roots (along with the unrelated wapato) were traditional dietary staples for many Native American tribes of the region. It surprises me a little that, despite the whole foodie/locavore thing that's been so popular of late, I've never heard of anyone trying to put either tuber back on local plates. It probably doesn't help that they're both marsh plants, so cultivation's going to take a bit more work and commitment than, say, heirloom tomatoes would. On the demand side, I'm not sure how many people have heard of either plant or know there's a long tradition of eating them. Despite the whole "eating locally" thing, it doesn't seem like the question of what's actually indigenous to the area comes up very often, except for salmon obviously.



For my part, I don't know where one might obtain camas or wapato roots, and I've never tasted either one, so I can't really give any practical advice here. But I thought I'd toss the idea out there, in the event some ambitious and creative local chef stumbles across this humblest of humble blogs. Or hey, why should chefs have all the fun -- as tubers, they're full of starch and thus (one would assume) fermentable, and distillable. Camas root vodka, anyone?

sea anemone

A big sea anemone at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. I don't recall the signage explaining what species of anemone it is, but I'm guessing it's probably a Giant Green Anemone (Anthopleura xanthogrammica), since it looks about right.

As a kid, and like many kids, I thought it was really cool to stick a finger in these guys and watch them fold up. As an adult, it surprises me a little that people still let their kids do this in these safety-paranoid times. I mean, when the anemone sticks to you and starts folding up, it's attempting to sting you and haul you in as lunch, it's just that (like most but not all anemones) it's unable to sting through human skin.



I have a gut feeling we're just waiting for someone's kid to get stung in a paper cut and have a one-in-a-million anaphylactic reaction to a sea anemone. Then there'll be a big media frenzy, and Important Safety Tips, and accusations of bad parenting, and that'll be that for playing in tidepools, yet another item on the ever-lengthening list of things people just shouldn't do anymore. Although I suppose the long-harrassed anemones and other tidepool fauna would breathe a sigh of relief -- if only they had actual brains or central nervous systems of any kind, or gills or lungs to breathe with, for that matter.



So -- generally speaking -- there's no real-world harm in letting a giant green anemone try to nibble on your finger, except maybe bad karma if you believe in that sort of thing (i.e. in some future life, it will be the human, and you the anemone, and you're minding your own business, just waiting for something tasty to wander by. Then it comes along, sticks its finger in you, then rips it away, and laughs cruelly at your attempt to eat it.) In any case, in other parts of the world it may not be such a fun idea to wander around teasing anemones. I haven't come across a single comprehensive list of anemones to avoid, but I've seen a few mentions of something called a "Hell's Fire Anemone" (Actinodendron plumosum) which is apparently bad news. Can't say too I'm disappointed those beasties live in the tropics and not here. There are undoubtedly others you're better off avoiding, too. This page has some general first aid tips on anemone stings if it comes to that.

A couple of pages about giant green anemones at Exploring Rocky Shores of Southern Oregon Coast and orange county nature. The latter points out that California has rather strict laws about never, ever touching any living organism on the coast. So while the anemone itself can't sting you, Officer Friendly's taser just might. The first link suggests that, rather than sticking your finger in the anemone, you bring along some raw fish or shrimp and actually feed the anemones instead of teasing them. I suppose if you really wanted to watch sea anemones in action (and traumatize your kids in the process) you could take it a step further and bring a bag of live feeder goldfish for them to sting and reel in. Not sure that would be legal, though, and there would undoubtedly be plenty of bad karma in it, if you believe in that sort of thing.

Pics: Monterey Bay Aquarium

Some old vacation photos from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, from February '08. I'd just gotten my current camera, and I didn't really have the hang of taking low-light photos, so relatively few came out decently. The aquarium itself is very cool, even if I can only show you a few bits of it. I'm sure one or two other people out there have taken photos and put them on the interwebs, if you want to see more than what I've got here.



A while back I went through and picked a few out that I thought were acceptable, and even got to the point of uploading them, but I never quite put a post together. I think I just forgot or something. So I thought I'd just go ahead and remedy that now...