SECRETS OF THE SEA MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM FULL OF VIBRANT EXHIBITS OF OCEAN LIFE.Byline: Bill Becher Special to the Daily News MONTEREY - If you don't scuba dive, the Monterey Bay Aquarium The Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is located in a former sardine cannery on Cannery Row in Monterey, California, is one of the largest and most respected aquariums in the world. It has an annual attendance of 1.8 million and holds 35,000 plants and animals representing 623 species. is the place to see the creatures of the sea while you stroll in shorts and a T-shirt. The 28-foot-high Kelp kelp: see seaweed; Phaeophyta. kelp Any of about 30 genera of large seaweeds that make up the order Laminariales (brown algae), found in colder seas. Forest exhibit is the closest most nondivers will get to actually swimming with leopard sharks. Visitors look through 7-inch-thick acrylic windows at an underwater forest teeming teem 1 v. teemed, teem·ing, teems v.intr. 1. To be full of things; abound or swarm: A drop of water teems with microorganisms. 2. with life. Because the tank rises above the visitors, they have the sensation of looking up from the ocean floor at the creatures swimming by. Carrie Wilson is a marine biologist marine biologist specialist in the biology of marine life. , scuba diver and volunteer guide at the aquarium. ``I always tell people when I'm giving tours that what you see is what you get (jargon) What You See Is What You Get - (WYSIWYG) /wiz'ee-wig/ Describes a user interface for a document preparation system under which changes are represented by displaying a more-or-less accurate image of the way the document will finally appear, e.g. when printed. right out there in the Monterey Bay,'' Wilson said. Twice a day, volunteer divers feed the fish and answer visitors' questions via a two-way communications mask. Something else to enjoy are the dark corridors of the jellyfish jellyfish, common name for the free-swimming stage (see polyp and medusa), of certain invertebrate animals of the phylum Cnidaria (the coelenterates). The body of a jellyfish is shaped like a bell or umbrella, with a clear, jellylike material filling most of the exhibit walled with tanks where the jellies pulse and move in an ever-changing light show. The aquarium is not a ``don't touch''-only place. Kids and adults alike can pet living bat rays and find they are soft and velvety vel·vet·y adj. vel·vet·i·er, vel·vet·i·est 1. Suggestive of the texture of velvet; soft and smooth: velvety skin. 2. , not slimy. Visitors also can get a real feel for sea stars, abalone abalone (ăbəlō`nē), popular name in the United States for a univalve gastropod mollusk of the genus Haliotis, members of which are also called ear shells, or sea ears, as their shape resembles the human ear. and crabs in touch-pool exhibits. For families with children from infants up to 9 years old, the recently remodeled Splash Zone provides a place to play and learn. Nearly 60 species, from South African blackfooted penguins to leafy sea dragons, colorful corals, moray eels and tropical sharks are on exhibit. Kids can crawl through a simulated coral reef. The aquarium's agenda goes way beyond ``edutainment.'' ``Our children are the future stewards of the ocean,'' aquarium executive director Julie Packard said. ``If they make an emotional connection with sea creatures while they're young, I'm confident that will translate into a lifetime of caring for the oceans. That's what `Splash Zone' is all about. That, and having a whole lot of fun.'' The aquarium's Seafood Watch program includes a frequently updated guide for seafood eaters as to which fish are in need of a rest and which can be eaten guilt-free. But groups representing the fisheries industry dispute some of the Sea Watch advice, saying the fishery for Chilean sea bass, on the program's avoid list, is well-regulated and that the fish are not endangered. The aquarium is the real science deal, no trained seals balancing beach balls on their noses. Current projects include a study with Stanford University of bluefin tuna using sophisticated ``popup'' data recorders. There's also a sea otter rehab operation. Not a 12-step program, but a team that rescues stranded animals, often pups, and teaches them to fend for themselves and eventually return to the ocean. Volunteer swimmers take the young animals out in the ocean and literally show them how to dive for food. To keep the animals from bonding with their rescuers and becoming too habituated to humans, the people working with the otters wear a Darth Vader-like outfit with their faces covered by a welder's mask. The otters are kept under observation via closed-circuit camera to further minimize human contact. If you want to see the ocean from a diver's perspective without the cold water, or just pet a bat ray, Monterey Bay Aquarium is the place. CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1 -- 3 -- color) Dive instructor Phil Sammet, top inset, shows off the underwater sights at Point Lobos State Reserve Point Lobos State Reserve commonly referred to as simply Point Lobos is a sea side state reserve south of Monterey, California, north of Big Sur. The very precipitous drop in the ocean floor off Point Lobos (reaching levels characteristic of the mid Pacific within a few near Monterey. Monterey Bay Aquarium exhibits similar underwater environments and sea life; the flower hat jelly The flower hat jelly (Olindias formosa) is a rare species of jellyfish occurring primarily in Brazil, Argentina, and off southern Japan. Characterized by lustrous tentacles that coil and adhere to its rim when not in use, the flower hat jelly's bell is translucent and fish, bottom inset, is one of the many species of animals and plants on display at the aquarium; an aquarium visitor gets a diver's-eye view of a leopard shark. Bill Becher/Special to the Daily News |
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