Hello everyone! I'm making this blog so you can all keep up with me as the newest aquarist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and because Kaite Potter threatened me if I didn't. :D  So far it has been an absolutely crazy ride and i'm loving every moment of it! I'm starting my third week and it still hasn't quite sunk in yet that I actually got this job. I'm having the opportunity to work with some pretty amazing people and animals, and I have already learned a ton.  I have also already fallen in love with the people and everything else about the aquarium. I can tell even now that it is going to be really hard to leave in January to go back to the Aquarium Science Program.  Everyone at Monterey is so friendly and experienced. Some of the aquarists have been there for over 20 years and have so much knowledge to share.  

What I have been doing.

More responsibility is being given to me than I expected and many tanks that I work with are very difficult to maintain, but it's been good for me. I'm weekend coverage for some aquarists and am in a couple different galleries. Five days a week I work in the Kelp Zone Gallery that is next to the big Kelp Forest tank. It includes an awesome inter-tidal invertebrate touch tank that I really enjoy taking care of in the mornings.  It includes sea stars, chitons, limpets, sponges, deep sea corals, crabs, whelks, sea cucumbers, giant kelp (Macrocystis) taken from the kelp forest tank, and other algae. Below the touch table there are tanks with lobsters, wolf eels, swell sharks, horn sharks, and rockfish that I also maintain. 

Three days a week I also work in the Deep Reef Gallery, which I also love. On Friday and Saturday I cover the wave crash tank. Those are all the areas that I am assigned to but have been trying to get in on as many other areas as I can. A few days a week I feed the two black sea turtles!!!! A lot of my afternoons are spent with the seahorses and I have been trying to do things with the Jellies and octopus as well.  

I will try to get pictures up soon of all these areas and of the great white shark!!!! For now I just wanted to get this started because I keep putting it off.  But check back soon because I have many stories and pictures I want to share with you guys.