The Jellyfish in a Kreisel tank

A very good day to you all. Today was a day dedicated to marine science. I do not think I have ever used the words astonishing, wow, unreal and the like as many times as today. Early this morning, we were met by Dr. Randall E. Kochevar of the Monterey Bay Aquarium for a tour of the aquarium and the "Mysteries of the Deep" exhibition which opens on the 20^th of March 1999. Randy is one of the R&D scientists of the Deep Sea section. Before I go into all the things we saw and were told, I should give you a little background on the Monterey Bay area and its aquarium.

Monterey Bay is known to be one of the worlds most diverse and largest protected Marine Sanctuary. The amazing diversity is due to the cold upwelling of nutrient rich waters that flow into the bay in the early autumn. This water supports the base of the food chain that is found from the mud flats and kelp forests to the 12,000 foot deep Monterey Canyon. The MB Aquarium is a non-profit, self supporting institution whose goal/mission is to inspire the conservation of the oceans, and inspire it certainly does. Through its amazingly interpretative exhibits past present and future, it manages to document all the possible forms of marine life found within the coastal wetlands to the deep abyss.

The aquarium hosts more than a hundred galleries and exhibits, 300,000 creatures representing more than 570 species of plants and animals found in the Monterey Bay region. The first exhibit Michael, DJ, Ib and I visited was the Mysteries of the Deep exhibit, which, when inaugurated in March will be the largest (7000 sq. feet) living deep sea gallery in the world. It will house 40-60 different living species that have never before been seen in an aquarium. We had the fabulous opportunity to see some of these creatures face to face, well, almost.

Randy explained that Mysteries of the Deep will be split into three major live exhibits which are based on the deep see habitats found in the bay and a fourth that will address the way humans are already using deep sea resources.

Canyon Walls:

We also saw a number of crinoids such as the deadly Deep sea sunstar (Rathbunaster californicus). This creature can have 22 arms, moves quickly and feeds on anything from detritus to small fishes! Feather Stars also exist in the deep. We were shown the Florametra serratissima species. These guys are just like sea stars, but much more delicate with thin symmetrical arms which hang in the water and catch particles passing through in the current. Some weirder animals were the Spider Crabs (Chorilia longipes) named after their long legs . They often hang out amongst anemones and live down to 4000 feet! For me the though, the by far coolest creature was the predatory tunicate (Megalodicopia hians). Imagine a sub-marine Venus fly catcher. Unlike most tunicates that filter water, they are predators! With their "oral hood" essentially its mouth, it catches food. It only grows to about six inches, but size is not everything!


Deep Sea Crab

Mid Water:

This is an area where sunlight never penetrates and no solid surfaces exist. In fact, after 450 feet, 99% of all light is absorbed or scattered by the water. Very bathypelagic in other words. Animals like the Pallid eelpout (Lycodapus mandibularis) live there. These fish have small, slender and eel like bodies, that would curl up and just float along in their specially designed aquariums. They migrate vertically in the water column (4300’). They feed on small crustaceans ( a major group of animals, including crabs, shrimps, prawns, lobster and crayfish) and grow to about six inches. We also saw examples of the Giant red mysid (Gnathophausia igens). These look a lot like a dark red shrimp and live between 1300-3000 feet. They can survive in hypoxic (low oxygen) conditions and when agitated give off a bioluminescent fluid. Very flashy.

Finally, we were also presented with the Black prince copepod (Gaussia princeps). These are the largest of all copepods (a major group of small crustaceans). Their size is an example of the "abyssal gigantism" phenomenon of which the giant squid ( Architeuthis dux) that can grow to 60 feet and weigh 1000 pounds is also an example of.

Canyon Floor:

The animals found in this part of the exhibit are the ones that will probably get the most attention as they include the subgroup Elasmobranchs (sharks, rays and chimaeras). We saw the Filetail catshark (Parmaturus xaniurus) which grows to about 2 feet and spends most of its time on the seabed. They feed on six gill and sleeper sharks and like most sharks have reflective eyes like cats which give them a better eye sight in the very light poor waters. The Spotted ratfish (Hydrolagus colliei) also made my day. Another example of the Chimaera family, they have rabbit like faces (really Rich) and can be found at 3300 feet. They are considered to be one of the oldest of living families of fishes in the ocean! As most of the male elasmobranch, have two claspers (penis's) though we saw one species in the SF aquarium that had four! They also have a weird appendage on their head conveniently called a head clasper. They probably use this to hold on to their mate. Being oviparous, the females lay large egg cases that are tadpole shaped and attached by a terminal filament, often to sponges or kelp if available. We saw the sacs too! There was also a Longnose skate (Raja rhina) swimming around with the sharks. Other benthic species seen were the Sea whip (Halipteris californica) and the Five-arm basket star (Asteronyx longifissus) which seem to me to have a symbiotic relationship. Enough Latin for the day I think.

As these animals are to be kept alive at all times, the environment has to be kept as similar to the real thing as possible. The water temperature was one parameter they certainly had control of. Michael took some uw footage in the aquariums with his new Maco housing by holding the housing underwater. Within minutes he had to take his hand out as the 39 degree Fahrenheit water was chilling his bones. The water infact is in many cases pumped straight from the Bay into the aquariums and sometimes filtered. The scientist also try to feed them similar foods. Check out the "Inside Story" exhibition, which gives you a behind the scenes look at how the staff take care of their animals.

By now we were all just blown away. To keep the momentum going, Randy took us to an existing gallery and handed us over to Tim Cooke who took us around the Outerbay galleries, which cost US$57 million. Well worth every cent though. This is the home of some serious pelagic fish. Here we had the opportunity to look through the largest window on the planet. It was 54 foot long, 15 feet tall, and 13 inches thick and weighs 78,000 pounds. Inside are a million gallons of sea water. Look inside and you see 57 Yellow fin tuna, Californian barracuda, Soup fin sharks, Green turtles, Bonito and most mind blowing… the Mola Mola – a oceanic Sun fish. I could still be standing there. At 11:00 they fed the fish which was a severe crowd puller. Then it was on to The Driffters exhibit. Jelly fish and more Jelly fish. Not for the weak hearted. We also got a behind the scenes tour, where Tim showed us the aquarium set ups for the Jelly fish. They had patented special tanks called Kreisel Tanks. Kreisel means circle in German, and that is exactly what they were. Circular. We saw the algae "plantations" and the simple lighting systems that made the exhibits look so fantastic. Then it was on to see the Giant octopus which were hiding and finally the live Nautilus shells. Needless to say, there would have been tones more exhibits to see but we just did not have the time. Be sure to go (Info. phone: (831) 648-4888) and give yourself at least the whole day.


The the largest window on the planet (with night bubbles turned on before first visitors arrive))

I’ll take this opportunity to thank all staff at the Monterey Bay Aquarium especially Randy, Ed, Tim and Ken for all their time, friendliness and endless information they provided us in written and verbal form. Thanks a million. We shall be in touch.

So, where are we now you may ask. Well, we are en route to LA and should be arriving in Marina del Rey by tomorrow afternoon, remain tied up until about Friday afternoon and then make our way to San Diego via the Channel Islands. I hope you enjoyed today’s entry. It was little heavy at times I know, but I think knowledge is key and if I can convey any, I will take that opportunity to share it with you the best I can.

See you in LA.

Lots of love

Rich