Behind the Secret Lives of Seahorses

The newest temp show Monterey has is called the "Secret lives of Seahorses." Many of my afternoons are spent in the holding areas siphoning/cleaning tanks and feeding the seahorses behind the scenes. I think Monterey has the largest and most diverse collection of seahorses right now. Anyone that has ever worked with them knows that they are some of the most high maintenance animals around. They are a ton of work to keep alive. These are just some in holding, including some babies! There are also pics of giving injections and pouch flushes on some males.

Sea turtle enrichment

Here are just a few pictures of the black sea turtles getting back scratches with the scrub brush. This is veronica showing me how for the first time. The turtles love their scrub brush so I try to do it as often as I can. Sometimes I will also freeze their green bell peppers in ice blocks for them to eat. Veronica also puts in strands of bull kelp and lately pumpkins for them to play with.

Penguin stuff

I'm not exactly sure what all was going on here. I just happened to walk by the animal health lab while I think Dr. Mike was doing physicals on some new penguins. One of the penguins just tried to bite people the whole time...hehe!

Fun with Sea Otters

First off, I just wanted to say sorry that I have not gone into more detail about what I am posting pictures of but it's hard for me to label them like the last blog I had through my Mac. It sucks, but blogspot is free and I haven't quite figured out how everything on here works. 

Anyways, these pictures are of some wild sea otters that were collected in Monterey Bay for SORAC (Sea Otter Research And Conservation) that is run through the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The important looking guy in all the pics is Dr. Mike!!! What they did was tag, measure, weigh, etc, and release them back into the bay. The best part was that they let me touch them while they were knocked out! One Otter had surgery to implant some sort of radio tracking device that uploads a ton of information for the researchers like depth, temperature, etc.  Yeah, I never thought I would get so excited about a mere mammal like a sea otter. ;) But I have to admit it was pretty cool.

A few Outer Bay and Deep Reef Pics!

Getting the Great White shark!

Arrival of the great white shark was very exciting! These are just some pictures of her getting moved from the transport tank to the Outer Bay exhibit. She is eating and doing very well now. But the first few days we had her she was on 24 hour watch. It was really fun staying late at the aquarium to watch her! 

 

There is a youtube video of the entire thing after the pics. And no Mom, I am not in it! So don't even try to find me. I stuck behind the camera. :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGH7sB5iumM