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Thursday, June 17, 2010

Aquarium Adventures

So why would a "botany blog" feature photos from an aquarium? The answer is two-fold really.

1. Do you think "botany" otherwise known as vegetation, fish food, etc., does NOT play a role in the ocean? Botany is not just on land. Botany is vitally important to the survival of many species.

and...

2. My daughter, JJ just hired on as a Biologist 1 for Adventure Aquarium in Camden N.J. and this gave me an opportunity to get an aquarium insider's tour. Aquariums are amazing places, but can you imagine how much more fun it can be with your own personal tour guide?


Botany of the sea. Sargasso Grass is vitally important to many species of aquatic life. There are entire fish communities based on this one vegetation.




Adventure Aquarium's displays were top-notch and went a long way to explain the interaction between currents, plants, and aquatic life forms.


And yes, "There's Dory!" If you have any of the little-ones in your proximity, they can tell you who "Dory " is... and why they all know her. JJ's hears this comment- or "There's NEMO!" About a million times per day... Ok, I exaggerate. One employee told me they average 3,000 school kids in the doors on some days. So that is just 3,000 "There's NEMO"s!
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Is it great that kids know so much about the ocean? Well, how much did you learn about wildlife from watching "Bambi"? Not much really, but maybe it will inspire a few of the tykes to learn more.
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So, hang in there for the next couple of days, as we will be meeting some of the creatures from Adventure Aquarium. No wet-suit required.

1 comment:

  1. Ha, I'm twenty-three and still have a tendency to cry "it's Dory!" when visiting an aquarium. It's been a while since I've seen Bambi, but I remember Finding Nemo as including a surprisingly large amount of real traits of the animals it portrayed (clownfish in anemones, inking octopi, long-lived sea turtles, etc.).

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