Visit to New England Aquarium, Boston (Part 1)

It was an amazing experience for me to visit the New England Aquarium. New England Aquarium is located at the Central Warf of Boston port line and is very famous for the variety of sea animals that it hosts. Surprisingly it is one of those rare aquariums having a very detailed website. Individuals can plan their visits by browsing this site as well.

In this "Part 1" post I have mostly covered clicks Jelly fish and a bunch of anonymous small fish. One of the exhibits that I liked the most was Shark and Ray touch tank. Unfortunately I was not able to take any clicks because the tank is pretty much at ground level and in this particular case it is not the picture that matters but the experience. They have got like 30-40 baby Rays swimming in a tank and you can touch those swimming Rays and Sharks. Believe me they don’t bite and it is a hell of an experience.

Just opposite to this Shark and Ray touch tank you would find another tank that has a variety of small and colorful fish. It is just like watching the entire sea bed in “Finding Nemo” movie come alive in front of you. Below are few of the clicks that I was able to grab. I am not a fish expert so I was not able to name all the below listed fish but they are very colorful and nice to watch. Any comments regarding their names would be helpful for me to put a caption for them.

Marine Fish

Below are few clicks of different kind of jelly fish that are maintained by New England Aquarium. Every type of jelly fish is kept in separate tank with a name plate having description about the jelly fish. I have tried to list them as per their type and as well have tried to put the description present on the name plates so that it becomes more interesting to read.

The European Moon Jelly (this is one of my favorites)

Description: Moon jellies are found worldwide and are commonly seen in New England waters. They are important consumers of zooplankton.

Japanese Sea Nettle

Description: These are often found in swarms in temperate zones of the North Pacific Ocean. They can be seen both on the ocean surface and in deep water.

Blue Blubber

Description: These Australian jellies are also referred to as "edible jellyfish" and are used in several Asian cuisines. They are also used to treat arthritis in traditional Chinese medicine.

Australian spotted jelly

Description: These natives of warn Australian waters and the Indo-Pacific have been accidentally introduced into warm Atlantic Ocean waters. They have been sighted throughout much of the Gulf of Mexico, in Puerto Rico and on the east coast of Florida.

Mediterranean jelly

Description: No details regarding this jelly fish were listed on the aquarium plate hence I tried to search on web for its details. In this process I stumbled upon following link which lists down different jelly fish and their details. These are the details that I got for Mediterranean jelly fish "Very abundant in the Mediterranean Sea, especially in bays. In 2009 it was more frequent in the southern part of Italy, showing a preference for warmer waters, but this was not confirmed in 2010 and 2011, since this species was very frequent throughout the whole Italian coast, especially in the second half of the summer."

Atlantic sea nettle

Description: These nettles are the summer residents of the East Coast, commonly ranging from both coasts of Florida to southern New England. Juvenile harvest fish and butter fish are often found swimming in the tentacles of the jelly fish.

Pacific sea nettle

Description: These nettles are often found in large groups called smacks, in the northern temperate Pacific Ocean. They can be seen both on the surface and deeper waters.