Fish Findings

Saturday Stephen and I went to the Living Planet Aquarium down in Sandy. I wasn't sure what to expect other than a few tropical fish, but they actually had some really neat creatures in three differently themed exhibits. First, we went to the classroom where they had a half hour show called "Superheros" that was obviously for children because it was a bit cheesy. It was fun because they showed us some animals that lived in the rain forest from snakes and scorpions to colorful parrots that could talk.  They talked about their super strengths as well as their weaknesses which was really interesting to learn about. One thing I didn't know was that if a tarantula falls just a few feet it'll die, and that an emperor scorpion's sting isn't any worse than a bee sting; its the little guys you have to worry about.

After that we started in the Discover Utah exhibit where they featured animals native to Utah. They had lots of fish like trout and razorbacks, bull frogs and toads, and salamanders. Then we went to the Ocean Explorer exhibit (which was the coolest) where we saw sharks, a sea turtle, an octopus, stingrays, seahorses, jellyfish, and colorful tropical fish. They even had a touch pool where you could pet the stingrays, starfish and other animals. Lastly, we went to the Journey to South America exhibit where we saw a huge 10 foot anaconda, caimen, turtles, piranhas, electric eels, poison dart frogs, and penguins (they weren't part of that exhibit). It was a fun afternoon and worth the drive! Most of these pictures are from the ocean exhibit because it was our favorite.

Northern Lobster. I actually thought this guy was a fake until I saw it move! It's at least three times the size of a normal lobster that you would eat. His claws alone are half as big as his body!

 This guy was right by the bull frog pond. I have always wanted to catch a bull frog in the wild. I've actually never seen a bull frog so that was pretty cool. I've had a thing for frogs since I was little.

 Stephen got to pet the stingrays! They are slimy little things; some of them even tried to jump out of the water against the sides of the pool.

 Sea Urchin

Seahorses

 I think this is a blue butterfly fish or its closely related.

I found Nemo!

Moon Jellyfish. These were really cool to watch because they change color like fiber optics.

Same jellyfish

Gentoo Penguins

Taking a ride on the Amazon River (the women who took this didn't quite get the background, haha)

 Piranhas