We spent the afternoon in the Georgia Aquarium. The aquarium is the world's largest with more than 8.5 million gallons (32,000 m3) of marine and fresh water housing more than 120,000 animals of 500 different species.
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The aquarium's most famous residents are these whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) from Taiwan. The sharks live in a 6.3 million gallon (24,000 m3) tank. The aquarium was designed around this exhibit.
While this is a rare and unusual engineering marvel -- both the size of the facility and the exotic-nature of some of its inhabitants -- I found it troubling that these magnificent creatures are so-contained, especially the marine mammals.
It was also of some interest that the place cost over $300 million to build. . . and that the donors who constructed it own such iconic American brands as Home Depot ($250,000,000 donated), . . . UPS, AirTran, AT&T, Georgia-Pacific, and Coke (another $40,000,000). Kind of makes you wonder about the mark up of all that stuff in the Home Depot, huh?
Regardless of my personal thoughts about these type places, I found a few species that were captivating. Among my favorites were (below), the Upside Down Jellyfish (Cassiopea xamachana) which has evolved to mimic the seagrasses amongst which it lives.
Found in nature from Bermuda to the Caribbean this jellyfish lives its life on the seafloor with large portions of its carbon and nutrition coming from symbiotic zooxanthellae (micro-algae). They grow to 12-14 inches (30-36 cm), pictured here are a group of the species.
Another of my favorites (below) were the Garden Eels (Gorgasia preclara and Heteroconger hassi syn. Taenioconger hassi).
At first glance, colonies of garden eels look like a field of swaying seagrass. Moving closer, the 'seagrass' often disappears. There may be hundreds and even thousands of these eels living together in colonies.
The eels grow to 16 inches (40 cm) long, although one never sees more than a quarter of their body.
Tightening their very muscular bodies to make themselves rigid, the garden eels drives their pointy tails deep into the sandy sea floor. The skin in their tails contains a hard substance, so they aren't hurt. Once the eels are deep enough, they wiggle their dorsal fins, pushing sand out of the hole. Slime from their skin cements the walls of their burrows, preventing cave-ins.
Like many other reef animals, garden eels escape from predators by diving tail-first into reef-bottom burrows. When they're not hiding, these fish sway in the current like blades of seagrass. Each eel lives in a single burrow, which they rarely ever leave.
Garden eels live in colonies on the sand flats and slopes that border coral reefs at depths of 23 to 150 feet (7 to 45 m).
Finally, another favorite (below) were these giant Japanese Spider Crabs (Macrocheira kaempferi). Thought to live as long as 100 years, these largest living arthropods have survived only because they are not easily caught at the depths where they normally live. They occur naturally at depths of 150 to 1000 feet (45 - 300 meters).
With its legs spread, an adult giant Japanese spider crab can measure 12 feet (3.6 meters) across and its body can grow to be 15 inches (38 cm) wide, weighing in at as much as 40 pounds (18 kg).
Below: A view of the color-changing atrium of the Georgia Aquarium. Perhaps a little too Disney-esque for my tastes. There is a food court in the atrium where one can purchase a small Coca-Cola (feet from the birthplace of Coca-cola) for only $2.50.
Below: The futuristic facade of the Georgia Aquarium, this afternoon.
Atlanta is located at about 34° N. latitude. Here, the sun only rose to about 37° above the southern horizon today, making for some very long shadows -- fun for the photographer to play with buildings and light.
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