For D.'s recent birthday we spent a special day in San Francisco at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, noted for its recent make-over including the 100,000-gallon Northern California Coast tank in the Academy's Steinhart Aquarium. Here are some of the pics I took.
The Northern California Coast tank replicates the habitats of the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, off the coast of San Francisco.
A fish and some urchins.
Sand dollars are constantly engaged in the arduous task of staying put in turbulent waters.
In a dream-like scene, sea anemones wave their venomous tentacles in the ocean currents looking for food.
A 165-pound giant sea bass cruises around in its tank. These fish can live to be 100 years old and are critically endangered because of overfishing.
I don't have a lot of pics from this exhibit because of the thick distorting glass, low lighting and constant movement of the creatures -- many colorful blurs but few usable images. So here are a few videos instead (with noisy audio due to a very crowded, child-filled museum).
A sea anemone.
Fish swimming about.
Jellyfish!
Sea urchins and fish.
More pics are on the way, so watch this space!
Rainforests here.
Snakes and Lizards here.
Coral Reef here.
African Hall here.
Miscellaneous here.
.