Wednesday 13 February 2013

Seahorses & Emperor Penguins


The Melbourne Aquarium claims to have the largest Seahorse Population in the world. We were both really excited to find out that the aquarium offers tours behind the scenes of the Seahorse Nursery. It was incredible to see baby seahorses up close. They have both Southern Pot-Belly Seahorses and Yellow Seahorses. There was one adorable yellow seahorse youngin who was trying to balance with his belly on a ring that they hang in the tank for the seahorses to grasp on, and the poor thing just completely toppled over. There are rings of all various sizes. Depending on the age of the seahorse, they need different thicknesses of objects to wrap their tail around while they're growing. They are such fragile fish, and sadly don't have a long life expectancy. We got to feed them which was unexpectedly exciting, the food was a super food that they created for them that's basically a type of plankton. Seahorses don't have a digestive gut, so in order for them to get energy, they constantly have to eat. 




The Aquarium also houses a decent sized group of Emperor Penguins. They had a baby born on 1/23 (23/1), and we were able to see the baby poke its head out from underneath its daddy's fluff. The father still has not handed the baby off to the mother. The animal handlers are waiting anxiously for THE handoff to happen. I love how penguins walk; it's amazing to me how clumsy and awkward they are on land but yet are so graceful in water.


I absolutely want to come back here at some point. It's really cool seeing the different fish, frogs and sharks that are native to Australia. We skipped over the squid and jellyfish exhibit because let's be honest, they're just super creepy. 

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