A recent visit to NY Aquarium opened a new world of beautiful sea creatures to me. The cute Sea Otter, even cuter Penguins, huge Walrus, awesome Sea Lion, harmless Sharks, beautiful fishes, mysterious jellyfish, small starfish, tiny Sea Horses, Loggerhead Sea Turtle, Tomato Frogs, coiled up Octopus, the list doesn't end.
Sea Otter - after taking the tickets, we went straight to see the Sea Otter feeding. We were there right in time, when the keeper was giving it a stick to play. They are so cute, with whiskers n small arms, it was so much fun to see them play around and eat fish. When it was floating on its back, it looked really sweet. As a matter of fact, Sea Otters have the densest fur than any other mammal and they live up to the age of 15 years.
Sea Otter
Sharks - The next was Shark Feeding. Again just in time, they looked huge in the tank. Not just huge but scary too (especially because of the visible sharp teeth). Called the 'Sand Tiger Shark', they were going round and round; and were literally peeling off the fish food from the pipe (used for feeding Sharks). Their looks are definitely deceiving, as this species of Shark is not considered dangerous for humans. With a length of almost 7 feet and weight up to 350 pounds, they are one of the nighttime carnivores.
Shark Feeding
Turtle - The name is 'Loggerhead Sea Turtle', and it looks huge. It usually weighs up to 398 pounds and can live 60 years or more. They were kept in the same tank with the Sharks and during the feeding, they were also grabbing onto the crabs. In all, they looked peaceful and yes! huge (again).
Walrus - The 'Pacific Walrus', the graceful giants, weigh up to 2700 pounds (woohu..!). They keep on diving n swimming in the water, while stopping in between for a minute or two. There were two of them in that enclosure, and I didn't see them relaxing at all, they looked restless. But, they are beautiful swimmers, no doubt.
Walrus deep in the water