Atlanta Aquarium

Overhead tank with Goliath Grouper

The Largetooth Sawfish is found in the tropical Indo-West Pacific, which includes areas of East Africa to New Guinea, the Philippines and Vietnam and Australia. It can also be found in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific oceans. The Largetooth Sawfish inhabits sandy or muddy bottoms of shallow coastal waters, estuaries, river mouths, and freshwater rivers and lakes. It eats crustaceans, mollusks and other animals found at the bottom of the ocean, as well as small schooling fish like mullet or herring. The saw is used for digging in the sand or mud for food, attacking prey and as a defense mechanism. The Largetooth Sawfish has the basic body structure of a ray, including gill slits on the underside of the bidy. It spends most of its time feeding on the bottom. The female gives birth to many young at one time. The female Sawfish gives birth to live young. When the offspring are born, their teeth are covered with am membranous sheath that protects the mother from the sharp teeth. The saw is soft and flexible and can bend backward upon birth and hardens son after birth. If the Largetooth Sawfish loses a tooth, it will replace it. Some sawfish will spend their entire lives in freshwater. The saw may have 14-22 very large teeth on either side. The Largetooth Sawfish's eyes are on the top of its head and the gills are near its belly. The maximum size for the animal was reported to be more than 21 feet and more than 1,400 pounds.

The Great Hammerhead Shark is found in warm tropical waters worldwide. This species of shark feeds on stingrays, guitarfish, whiptail stingrays, eagle rays and skates. It will also eat other sharks and bony fish including catfish and groupers. The front of the Great Hammerhead Shark's head is nearly straight and greatly elongated with flattened lobes that have a central indentation. The shape and size of the lobes are responsible for the name "Hammerhead". The Hammerhead Shark gives birth to live young. Their heads are so flexible at birth, the lobes fold against the body to ease their way out of the birth passage. Litters of 13-42 pups are common, with larger females having larger litters. In Africa it is also known as the Horned Shark. The "hammer" appears to function as a second set of pectoral fins, probably giving the hammerhead greater maneuverability. This shark moves forward with the straightforward intensity mof a rushing truck. The Great Hammerhead Shark is the largest of the nine known species of Hammerhead Sharks. The maximum recorded length for this shark is 19.68 feet.

Whale Shark




Overhead tank



Shark

Whale Shark

Whale Shark

Whale Shark

School of fish

School of Fish

Largetooth Sawfish

Cownose Ray

Cownose Ray

Whale Shark

The Manta Ray has a unique body shape that includes an extremely broad head with an enormous, wide mouth flanked by two broad, flexible, fleshy lobes (cephalic fins). Its upper body surface is black in color and its underside is white. It is the largest of all rays, weighing up to 6,000 pounds. At birth, the width of its wings is about 5 feet, growing to an average width of 13 feet as an adult. The maximum known width of a Manta Ray is 26 feet. The Manta Ray is mainly a plankton feeder, but also consumes small and moderate-sized fishes. During feeding the Manta Ray repeatedly somersaults under water and also occasionally breaks the surface. This species does not ahve a stinging spine and is generally harmless to humans.

The only natural enimies of the Manta Ray are large sharks and people. The Manta Ray is also called the "Devil Ray" becasue when rolled and projected forward, the cephalic fins have the appearance of horns. Fishing pressure and by-catch in drift and set nets are depleting populations of Manta Rays. The Manta Ray has up to 300 rows of tiny teeth on the front of the lower jaw, but these teeth are non-functional. The Manta Ray gives birth to one and sometimes two live pups with curled up wings that have been folded around the pup's body to allow easier delivery.

School of fish

Cownose Ray

This is a Cuttlefish. Cuttlefish are actually not fish, but are much more closely related to garden slugs and snails. They belong to the same group of animals as the octopus, squid and nautilus, and, like a snail, they are all mollusks. Cuttlefish are unique within this group in that they have a gas-filled bone within their bodies which allows them to be boyant. Cuttlebones are used in birdcages. This bone is within the body part of the animal called the mantle and attached to the mantle is a head with eight arms and two feeding tentacles. The Cuttlefish is an ambush preditor and a master of disguise. Its skin is covered with special cells called chromatophores, iridophores and leucophores that reflect light in many different colors enabling the Cuttlefish to blend into its background almost perfectly. Some say it's like a chameleon but it is far superior in its ability to change color and even the texture of its skin.

A Cuttlefish will steadily, using its camouflage, sneak up on its prey. Their preferred diet is crabs or fish, and when it is close enough it ipens its eight arms and shoots out two deceptively long feeding tentacles. On the end of each is a pod covered with suckers that grasp hold of the prey and quickly pull it close to the Cuttlefish mouth, which looks like a parrot's beak. The scientific name for the Cuttlefish is Sepia. In years gone by, sepia ink, which is derived from Cuttlefish, was used by artists for their paintings. For the Cuttlefish this ink is a decoy, a means of escape from preditors. If a large fish were to attack a Cuttlefish, it would eject a cloud of dark brown, almost black, ink towards its attacker. The preditor would get a mouthful of ink that tastes nasty and coats its nostrils. Meanwhile, the Cuttlefish is hidden from view and propels itself away backwards by using its own jet propulsion system, its siphon. The eggs of the Cuttlefish are laid in clumps together and are often coated in ink from the mother. This serves as camouflage for the eggs. They hatch at a much further developed stage than an octopus does, and immediately start feeding on suitably small shrimp.

Sea Nettle

The Moon Jelly is found worldwide in temperate areas. It is most often seen floating among surface waters, over reefs and along coastal shores. The MOon Jelly's primary diet consists of zooplankton, which it can store in the upper and lower surfaces of its dome. The Moon Jelly uses its four long arms to transfer the stored food from the dome to the mouth. The Moon Jelly lacks the strength to navigate in currents and is the most common Jelly found washed up on beaches. The Moon Jelly is considered plankton and is a main food source for many marine creatures such as leatherback sea turtles. As a result, many of these animals die every year when they ingest floating plastic bags mistaken for Moon Jellies.

A Moon Jelly is whitish in color, often shaded with pink or blue. In open water, the tentacles are extended and hang down like a veil. Four-leaf-clover-shaped reproductive organs can be seen through the translucent dome. Embroys develop on special grooves in the adult female's arms. The Moon Jellies are true jellies--the body is filled with a jelly-like substance.

The Georgia Aquarium is home to more than 150 Pacific Sea Nettles.

Aquarium biologists ventured into 48 degree Pacific Ocean water, dodging hefty sea swells and inclement weather, in order to collect the jellies. Through a permit from the State of Oregon, Georgia Aquarium was able to attain the jellies for educational display and husbandry research at the aquarium.

Pacific Sea Nettles are overly abundant off the coast of Oregon and have become a nuisance to fishermen in the area. The large fluctuation of jellies is thought to be a global indicator of climate change. Georgia Aquarium biologists plan to study the jellies to learn more about the fascinating animal and improve aquaculture techniques.

The Pacific Sea Nettle is common along the coast of California and Oregon and occurs, but is less common, in waters north to the Gulf of Alaska, west to the seas around Japan and south to the Baja Peninsula. This sea nettle is generally larger than similar species found in the Atlantic. In the wild. it can grow to a diameter of three feet and its thick oral arms can extend 12 feet below the animal. The thin tentacles that hang down from around the edge f its body can inflict a painful sting.

The Pacific Sea Nettle feeds on small crustaceans, small fish and fish eggs and larvae. It will also eat other jellies. In recent years, these jellies have become so abundant that they appear to be reducing adult fish populations by consuming so many fish eggs and larvae.

The concentrations of jellies can become large enough to clog fishing nets and block industrial water intakes. As in other true jellies, the Sea Nettle exhibits a life cycle that includes both sexual and asexual stages.

The genus name Chrysaora has its origins in Greek Mythology.

This is what a Pacific Reef is like

Pacific Reef

Pacific Reef

Pacific Reef

Pacific Reef

Pacific Reef

Pacific Reef

Pacific Reef

The Longsnout Seahorse resides in the brackish coastal waters of the Western Atlantic. They are an uncommon species usually found attached to seagrass or floating seaweed. The Longsnout Seahorse is an ambush preditor that uses its snout to suck in prey. They are currently listed as "vulnerable" on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources list. The LOngsnout Seahorse is ovoviviparous, meaning that the fertilized eggs are imbedded in a pouch under the male seahorses's tail. He carries the eggs during the two week gestation period and can birth up to about 1,500 young at once. It can achieve a maximum length of about seven inches. The species pair-bonds for life. It can be found from North Carolina and Bermuda to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This species is found in water environments up to depths of 180 feet. Young seahorses are approximately one-quarter inch at birth.

In the middle of this picture is what looks like a green flat blade of grass. It is actually a bladefish.

Longsnout Seahorse

I think this is a type of Angelfish.

He was just so pretty and just seemed to be posing for us.

I just thought he was so pretty.

Sea Anemones

Sea Anemones

Sea Anemones

A large Lobster

Sea Anemones

Sea Anemones

The Madagascar Giant Day Gecko is found in northern and northwestern Madagascar. It lives in bushes and trees in temperate forested areas, but can also be encountered around settlements and buildings.

Adults are usually about 8 to 9 minches long, but some may grow to almost 11 inches. Its tail makes up about half of its length. Adults are bright green in color with daubs and streaks of red to orange. Hatchlings are a dull olive color and about 2 1/2 inches long. The gecko feeds on insects and sweet plant foods such as bananas and flower nectar.

The toe pads of the gecko consist of rows of flap-like plates covered with thousands of microscopic hook-like projections that can catch onto any surface and allow it to climb glass windows and cling to ceilings.

The Day Gecko and most other gecko species are the only lizards that can produce sounds other than a hiss. Their vocalizations range from squeaks and clicks to barks and groans, depending on the species.

The name "gecko" is believed to originate from the sound of some of these vocalizations. The Madagascar Giant Day Gecko has been introduced into several locations in the United States. It has established reproducing colonies on several Florida Keys.

Now, you had to see this coming. This exhibit was sponsored by Geico--the real Geico Gecko!!!!