Yesterday we drove down to
Panacea to the
Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory, a little research lab and conservation facility on the coast. They have some really amazing sea creatures -- ethereal sea slugs, weird puffer fish, anemones in psychedelic pinks and purples, brilliant yellow sea horses.
This is the incredibly strange batfish, which uses its pectoral fins to walk on the bottom of the ocean. When it saw us, it paddled over to the edge of the tank, squatted down, and gave us a fierce look from its angry little face.
It's not like visiting an aquarium. For one thing, most of the sea creatures are in shallow, open tanks so that they can be handled. It's almost like being underwater with them. Many of the animals were curious and friendly, like these rays, which swam up to us ...
... then leapt out of the water to greet us. I thought they wanted food. David thought they wanted us to be their food. But the lab assistant said they were just interested in seeing people and having their noses petted. We were not allowed to pet them, but we did get to pick up horseshoe crabs and pet starfish. As I put my hand in the water, a scallop watched me with a row of tiny glittering blue eyes. David was bitten by a green filefish as he was reaching to touch some sea pork.
After all the interaction with sea life, I felt like a Nereid.
So on my way out, I rode a dolphin.
Yesterday we drove down to Panacea to the Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory, a little research lab and conservation facility on the coast. They have some really amazing sea creatures -- ethereal sea slugs, weird puffer fish, anemones in psychedelic pinks and purples, brilliant yellow sea horses.
This is the incredibly strange batfish, which uses its pectoral fins to walk on the bottom of the ocean. When it saw us, it paddled over to the edge of the tank, squatted down, and gave us a fierce look from its angry little face.
It's not like visiting an aquarium. For one thing, most of the sea creatures are in shallow, open tanks so that they can be handled. It's almost like being underwater with them. Many of the animals were curious and friendly, like these rays, which swam up to us ...
... then leapt out of the water to greet us. I thought they wanted food. David thought they wanted us to be their food. But the lab assistant said they were just interested in seeing people and having their noses petted. We were not allowed to pet them, but we did get to pick up horseshoe crabs and pet starfish. As I put my hand in the water, a scallop watched me with a row of tiny glittering blue eyes. David was bitten by a green filefish as he was reaching to touch some sea pork.
After all the interaction with sea life, I felt like a Nereid.
So on my way out, I rode a dolphin.
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