The Monterey Bay Aquarium (or MBA, founded 1984) is located on the site of a former sardine cannery on Cannery Row on the Pacific Ocean shoreline in Monterey, California. It has an annual attendance of 1.8 million and holds 35,000 plants and animals representing 623 species. The aquarium benefits by a high circulation of ocean water which is obtained through pipes which pump it in from Monterey Bay. Among the aquarium's numerous exhibits, two are of particular note: The centerpiece of the Ocean's Edge Wing is a 10 meter (33-foot) high 1.3 million liter (1/3 million gallon) tank for viewing California coastal marine life. In this tank, the aquarium was the first in the world to grow live California Giant Kelp using a wave machine at the top of the tank (water movement is a necessary precondition for keeping Giant Kelp, which absorbs nutrients from surrounding water and requires turbidity), allowing sunlight in through the open tank top, and circulation of raw seawater from the Bay. The second exhibit of note is a 4.5 million liter (1.2 million gallon) tank in the Outer Bay Wing which features one of the world's largest single-paned windows (crafted by a Japanese company, the window is actually five panes seamlessly glued together through a proprietary process). Sealife on exhibit includes stingrays, jellyfish, sea otters, an 11 lb. lobster over 50 years old, and numerous other native marine species, which can be viewed above and below the waterline. For displaying jellyfish, the MBA uses an aquarium called a Kreisel tank which creates a circular flow to support and suspend the jellies. Visitors are able to inspect the creatures of the kelp forest at several levels in the building. The aquarium does not house mammals other than otters.
Anchovies Set the Water Sparkling
"Sun shines down into the clear blue water of the outer bay. It dances and flashes, lighting a quicksilver school of anchovies. The countless small fish form a living stream that shifts and flows through the sunlit sea. Imagine you're there."
Jellies Drift Through Open Seas"Because it takes so little energy, drifting is the most economical way to travel the vast open waters. Drifting jellies need only pulse their bells gently as they ride the ocena's currents. As they go, they feed on small fishes, jellies and other small drifters, also along for the ride."
They're Built to go With the Flow"Alien as it looks, a jelly's soft shape is perfectly adapted to its environment. The animal's thin skin stretches over a body that's more than 95% water (no bones or shells to weight it down). And as the jelly drifts, those dangling tentacles, covered with stinging cells, are combing the water to catch its prey."
We took lots of pictures of the jellies because I think they are so graceful and pretty.
They just float and drift. So perfect.
Lions Mane Jelly (Cyanea capillata)
Lions Mane Jelly
This Jelly's Tentacles are a Sure Sting
"It hunts tiny drifting animals by trailing these long tentacles and frilly mouth-arms, all covered with stinging cells."
"When the tentacles touch prey, the stinging cells paralyze it and stick tight. From there the prey is moved to the mouth-arms and finally the mouth, where the prey's digested."
White Shark
"We need to work with fishermen to find ways to reduce the number of sharks accidentally caught as bycatch."
The Monterey Bay Aquarium is on the end of a pier, much line the one here in Charleston. The Bay is beautiful. When you go out on the pier there are rocks out in the water. If you listen you can hear the sea lions barking. There are telescopes on the pier adn you are encouraged to look through the telescopes at the rocks and bouys to see the sea lions. Mike took this picture through the telescope.
One of the exhibits
This star fish was in the same touch tank as an 11 pound, 50 year old lobster.
Kellet's Whelk
The exhibits were colorful and beautiful
This is a kelp garden. Kelp plants grow an average of about four inches a day and require weekly underwater gardening by scuba divers who untangle the trim and hgte fast-growing plants. Sometimes rock fish can be seen hanging motionless or upside down among the kelp blades. They can hover without sinking or floating because they have a gas-filled sac called a swim bladder that helps them stay put. In the aquarium pumps push up to 2000 gallons of sea water a minute through the exhibit and a specially designed surge machine creates the constant water movement that kelp needs to survive. Giant kelp belongs to a diverse group of organisms called algae. Simpler than most land plants, algae have no roots, stems, leaves or flowers. They range in size from microscopic cells to 100-foot-tall giant kelp. Bull kelp is an annual plant that is ripped loose by stormy waves each winter and grows anew each spring. Kelp keeps a firm grip: What looks like roots on a giant kelp plant is really the "holdfast" that anchors it to the rocky ocean floor. Kelp is one of the world's fastest growing plants. NInety percent of this growth ends up on the beach as drift kelp or sinks into the deep sea where it's eaten by pink sea urchins and other animals. For hundreds of years, people have gathered kelp and its kin for fertilizer, chemicals and food. Cold, nutrient-rich sea water upwells along the coast of Monterey BAy from MArch through August making the kelp forests flourish. The kelp forest The large acrylic windows in the exhibit are 7.25 inches thick, 8 feet wide by 16 feet tall and weigh about 2.8 tons. There are approximately 80 species of seaweed growing in the exhibit. The exhibit holds approximately 333,000 gallons. Monterey Bay Aquarium was the first in the world to exhibit a living kelp forest.
A sea dragon, member of the seahorse family. The males of this species become pregnant and give birth. Seahorse fathers shelter their young in protective pouches, while sea dragon and pipefish carry their young on spongy patches on the undesides of their tails. It is not known how many seahorses exist as they range from microscopic to 14 inches long.
The black Footed Penguin exhibit. Some of these birds didn;t even move the entire time we were there while others played and swam, and still others preened and cleaned themselves.
Many of the ones that didn't move sat with their backs towards the visitors.
Here's one cleaning himself.
And one that was very unsociable.
They were really pretty birds.
And there were a lot of them
This is another picture of a sea lion taken through the telescope.
Moray Eels 
Why are these eels flashing their fierce teeth? Morays open and close their mouths to breathe.
Another exhibit
Finally, there was a huge otter exhibit. I love otters. They were playing and the swimming. The exhibit was fantastic in that oyu could see it from two floors of the aquarium. Otters have the densest fur of all animals in the world--up to a million hairs per square inch. They live in close knit groups called rafts, often sleeping in kelp forests so they don;t drift apart. They do sometimes come ashore, but usually spend most of their time in th ewater. They eat, sleep, mate and have their pups in the water. They spend a couple hours per day groomng to keep their fur in good shape. They are loose-jointed and can groom every inch of their bodies, including the middle of their backs. Males and females live in separate groups. They do not mate for life, but only for two or three days and the female raises the pups on her own. The gestation period for an otter is six months, and females usually only have one pup a year, weighing about three to five pounds at birth.
We took lots of pictures of the jellies because I think they are so graceful and pretty.
They just float and drift. So perfect.
Lions Mane Jelly (Cyanea capillata)Jellies are Simply Beautiful
"Watching a jelly up close, you can see it's not a fish--it has no bones or fins. A jelly is a very simple animal . That pulsating umbrella is its body. Underneath are lacy mouth-arms; hidden up inside them is the jelly's mouth. And from the rim trail graceful, stinging tentacles."
Lions Mane Jelly
This Jelly's Tentacles are a Sure Sting
"Not all jellies sting, but the sea nettle does."
"It hunts tiny drifting animals by trailing these long tentacles and frilly mouth-arms, all covered with stinging cells.""When the tentacles touch prey, the stinging cells paralyze it and stick tight. From there the prey is moved to the mouth-arms and finally the mouth, where the prey's digested."
White Shark
"Our White Shark Caught by Our Husbandry Team"
"With the help of commercial fishermen, our husbandry team caught this young white shark off southern California. Worldwide, millions of shrks die each year as bycatch, in fishing gear set for other animals."
"We need to work with fishermen to find ways to reduce the number of sharks accidentally caught as bycatch."
The Monterey Bay Aquarium is on the end of a pier, much line the one here in Charleston. The Bay is beautiful. When you go out on the pier there are rocks out in the water. If you listen you can hear the sea lions barking. There are telescopes on the pier adn you are encouraged to look through the telescopes at the rocks and bouys to see the sea lions. Mike took this picture through the telescope.
One of the exhibits
This star fish was in the same touch tank as an 11 pound, 50 year old lobster.
Kellet's Whelk
The exhibits were colorful and beautiful
This is a kelp garden. Kelp plants grow an average of about four inches a day and require weekly underwater gardening by scuba divers who untangle the trim and hgte fast-growing plants. Sometimes rock fish can be seen hanging motionless or upside down among the kelp blades. They can hover without sinking or floating because they have a gas-filled sac called a swim bladder that helps them stay put. In the aquarium pumps push up to 2000 gallons of sea water a minute through the exhibit and a specially designed surge machine creates the constant water movement that kelp needs to survive. Giant kelp belongs to a diverse group of organisms called algae. Simpler than most land plants, algae have no roots, stems, leaves or flowers. They range in size from microscopic cells to 100-foot-tall giant kelp. Bull kelp is an annual plant that is ripped loose by stormy waves each winter and grows anew each spring. Kelp keeps a firm grip: What looks like roots on a giant kelp plant is really the "holdfast" that anchors it to the rocky ocean floor. Kelp is one of the world's fastest growing plants. NInety percent of this growth ends up on the beach as drift kelp or sinks into the deep sea where it's eaten by pink sea urchins and other animals. For hundreds of years, people have gathered kelp and its kin for fertilizer, chemicals and food. Cold, nutrient-rich sea water upwells along the coast of Monterey BAy from MArch through August making the kelp forests flourish. The kelp forest The large acrylic windows in the exhibit are 7.25 inches thick, 8 feet wide by 16 feet tall and weigh about 2.8 tons. There are approximately 80 species of seaweed growing in the exhibit. The exhibit holds approximately 333,000 gallons. Monterey Bay Aquarium was the first in the world to exhibit a living kelp forest. 
A sea dragon, member of the seahorse family. The males of this species become pregnant and give birth. Seahorse fathers shelter their young in protective pouches, while sea dragon and pipefish carry their young on spongy patches on the undesides of their tails. It is not known how many seahorses exist as they range from microscopic to 14 inches long.
The black Footed Penguin exhibit. Some of these birds didn;t even move the entire time we were there while others played and swam, and still others preened and cleaned themselves.
Many of the ones that didn't move sat with their backs towards the visitors.
Here's one cleaning himself.
And one that was very unsociable.
They were really pretty birds.
And there were a lot of them
This is another picture of a sea lion taken through the telescope.
Moray Eels
Morinas
Eels MAke Homes in Narrow Coral Caves
Moray eels hide all day showing their sharp teeth. They swim out at night to hunt along the reef.
Why are these eels flashing their fierce teeth? Morays open and close their mouths to breathe.
Another exhibit
Finally, there was a huge otter exhibit. I love otters. They were playing and the swimming. The exhibit was fantastic in that oyu could see it from two floors of the aquarium. Otters have the densest fur of all animals in the world--up to a million hairs per square inch. They live in close knit groups called rafts, often sleeping in kelp forests so they don;t drift apart. They do sometimes come ashore, but usually spend most of their time in th ewater. They eat, sleep, mate and have their pups in the water. They spend a couple hours per day groomng to keep their fur in good shape. They are loose-jointed and can groom every inch of their bodies, including the middle of their backs. Males and females live in separate groups. They do not mate for life, but only for two or three days and the female raises the pups on her own. The gestation period for an otter is six months, and females usually only have one pup a year, weighing about three to five pounds at birth.
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