New employee orientation at Monterey Bay Aquarium

#Monterey #Nature #Marine

Saying hi to Tino the giant pacific octopus (still young)
Employee perk: being able to see the kelp forest with no people around (before we open!

Keep your nudibranchs close and your anemones closer

#Marine #Puns

The northern anchovy ‘yawns’ as it eats because it’s opening its mouth and eating everything
I got to squish a moon jelly

I think I’ll keep updating this thread to share the joy I see whenever I am onsite (which is going to be, often, coz I need this)

I learned that the jellies have circular tanks because.. they get stuck in corners

Top view of an actual shark tank
We don’t have corn holes. We have coral hole
The view on my walk to work when I’m down there

Sticking my phone through the holes of a fence. And finding a (I think) Brandt’s cormorant colony

#Birding

Kind of unfair that a random photo out of the railings has birds and otters in it
I get to sea the open sea exhibit before we open! A sure way to know we haven’t opened is there are bubbles in the water

The Monterey bay aquarium stands on the grounds of a former sardine cannery. Due to overfishing, the sardine population collapsed. When I heard about this I thought of the Silicon Valley office parks 50 miles north, engaged in modern extractive exploitation without ever giving back.

The recovery of the bay, the work of the aquarium and the marine national park status has completely changed the environment

Attending a staff-only internal guitar concert in the open sea exhibit this morning

You can watch some live cams here (of the animals, not the concert)

https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/live-cams

Meeting in the kelp forest (we are closed today for a staff only event)
There really was a guitar concert in front of the sea nettles this morning
An exhibit that shows what a ‘whale fall’ looks like
Slow shutter speed / low light photo of a lump fish

Move over, JK ‘TERFY’ Rowling.

Here’s ’Hairy Otter’, written by (probably) JK Owl

My friends are asking if I’m involved in any of the fun social media and I’m like nope but I love that team and I’m trying to meet all of them

(Monterey Bay is the GOAT: Greatest Ocean of all Time)

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCZ-RrjIwQy/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Monterey Bay Aquarium on Instagram: "Feeling super amped up that we got Executive Director, Julie Packard, and Chief Conservation and Science Officer, Margaret Spring joining the trend to tell you all about the based things at our Aquarium. They truly were the moment💅✨🌊 #MontereyBayAquarium #TheyDeliveredLikeAQueen #GenZWroteTheScriptMillennialsGoogledTheTerms"

7,381 likes, 111 comments - montereybayaquarium on November 15, 2024: "Feeling super amped up that we got Executive Director, Julie Packard, and Chief Conservation and Science Officer, Margaret Spring joining the trend to tell you all about the based things at our Aquarium. They truly were the moment💅✨🌊 #MontereyBayAquarium #TheyDeliveredLikeAQueen #GenZWroteTheScriptMillennialsGoogledTheTerms".

Instagram

The otter people didn’t let me take my phone to the behind the scenes otter feeding, but promised to send me photos after so

#Marine #Mammals #Otters #OttersOfMastodon #OttersOfTheFediverse

I have an octopus scarf!

At work they got us to head out to connect with the ocean. Honestly can’t believe I get to be here

Also not lost on me that this very beach was yet another Chinese settlement that was destroyed by ‘fire’ in 1906

Someone made a whale
I made a dumpling
View from a room where I’m having a 3 day training program
View from my last day of training
Someone just told me ‘California sheephead transition from female to male, AND conjure a sphere of mucus to protect them when they sleep’
Maybe it shows I spend a lot of time looking at jellyfish but I got in this morning and was like NEW JELLY
Pacific sardines
@skinnylatte I love these pics. We’ve been there, as a family, five or six times and we love it there. These bring back great memories.
@skinnylatte Here’s our daughter at the Aquarium in 2005. She’s 21 now.
@Ronnie haha the clam is so cool
@skinnylatte 😂 Our son in the same clam in 2003. He’s 26 now.
@Ronnie all happy as clams!
@skinnylatte Nothing happier than clams.
@skinnylatte One last clam pic and I’ll stop. 😂 The same daughter in 2016.
@Ronnie I wonder if the clam is still around! I haven’t seen it
@skinnylatte I don’t know if it is or not. The last time we were there it was. That was 2016.
@Ronnie we have incredible live streams now. Check out the otter feeding at 1.30pm PT daily. all streams on the website! Enjoy!
@skinnylatte I think my favorite exhibits there have always been the jelly fish. They are just amazing.

@Ronnie if you ever come back, I recommend the into the deep exhibit. They have some fantastic deep sea jellies never before seen. Like the bloody belly comb jelly

https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/bloodybelly-comb-jelly

@skinnylatte I was just thinking how this conversation is making me want to go back. That’s a beautiful jellyfish.
@Ronnie you should! Let me know if you do ;) there’s going to be a new marine sanctuary further south, called Chumash, in consultation with the Indigenous folks out there.
@skinnylatte Oh my gosh! Apple Photos must be following this conversation because this just popped up in my memories! This is my daughter as a jelly for Halloween.