Monterey Bay Aquarium

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Monterey Bay Aquarium

Kelp Forest Aquarium
Date opened	October 20, 1984
Location	Monterey, California, USA
# of Animals	35,000
# of Species	623
Accreditations/ Memberships	AZA
Website
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The Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is located in a former sardine cannery and a former brewery on Cannery Row in Monterey, California, is one of the largest and most respected aquariums in the world. It has an annual attendance of 1.8 million and holds 35,000 plants and animals representing 623 species.

Among the aquarium's numerous exhibits, two are of particular note. The centerpiece of the near shore wing is a 33-foot (10-m) high tank for viewing California coastal marine life. This tank was the first in the world to simulate tidal currents on a large scale, enabling the aquarium to keep live California Giant Kelp (water movement is a necessary precondition for keeping Giant Kelp, which absorbs nutrients from surrounding water and requires turbidity). The second exhibit of note is a one million gallon tank in the Outer Bay Wing which features the world's largest single paned window (crafted by a Japanese company, the window is actually 4 panes seamlessly glued together through a proprietary process).

1 History
2 Marine research
3 Cultural references
4 Gallery
5 External links

[edit] History

Sealife on exhibit includes stingrays, jellyfish, sea otters, and numerous other native marine species, which can be viewed above and below the waterline. For displaying jellyfish, the MBA uses a circular aquarium called a Kreisel Tank. Visitors are able to inspect the creatures of the kelp forest at several levels in the building. Beginning in September 2004, the Outer Bay exhibit was the home to the first Great White Shark ever successfully kept on exhibit. The shark was at the aquarium for 198 days(the previous record was 16 days). The shark was released on 31 March 2005 after she bit two soupfin sharks in the exhibit, both of which later died. The aquarium staff believe the shark may have been acting to defend territory as she didn't actually eat either of the sharks. On the evening of August 31, 2006 the aquarium intoduced a second shark to the Outer bay exhibit. The juvenile male was caught outside Santa Monica Bay on August 17.[1]

The aquarium's original building was designed by the architectural firm EHDD (Esherick Homsey Dodge and Davis) and opened on 20 October 1984. The aquarium's mission is to "to inspire conservation of the oceans." The aquarium's initial financial backing was provided by David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard. Packard, an avid blacksmith, personally created several exhibits for the aquarium at his forge in Big Sur, including the gears and pulleys of a simulated tide machine. His daughter, the marine biologist Julie Packard, is currently CEO of the aquarium.

In January 1996, the aquarium opened the new Outer Bay wing to provide exhibits covering the open-water ecology of Monterey's Outer Bay. Besides the above-mentioned million-gallon tank, another of the new exhibits included a school of 3000 anchovies (a fish that was once the foundation of Monterey's economy), swimming against the endless current of a toroidal tank.

[edit] Marine research

The Monterey Bay Aquarium maintains a close relationship with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). MBARI is located in Moss Landing, California, at the head of the submarine Monterey Canyon. It is renowned worldwide for its research on deep-sea marine life and other programs in marine biology.

Monterey Bay is located within the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) a Federally-protected marine area (the equivalent of a saltwater national park) off California's central coast.

Many of the visitors to the aquarium are families who bring their children, particularly on the weekends. Many high school and college biology and oceanography classes in northern California also commonly visit the aquarium.

The aquarium is also home to Seafood Watch, which publishes consumer guides for responsible seafood purchasing.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is the only aquarium in the world to keep a great white shark captive for more than 16 days. The aquarium has successfully hosted juvenile white sharks on several occasions, and the staff has developed a method for careful capture, housing and transportation. The sharks are released back into the ocean when they become large enough to begin actively hunting the other animals in the exhibit.

The unique design of the Outer Bay exhibit plays the central role in keeping the juvenile white sharks healthy for extended periods of time.

[edit] Cultural references

The Aquarium appeared in the 1986 film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, where it appeared as the 'Cetacean Institute of Biology' in Sausalito. The main aquarium was overlaid with special effects to appear to be the tank home of two humpback whales.

Jim Carrey's character, Stephano, in the film Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, makes a reference to the aquarium when trying to convince Uncle Monty, a herpetologist, of his experience with snakes.

[edit] Gallery

A surface supplied diver interacts with viewers while feeding the fish	Schooling fish in the Outer Bay exhibit.	Exhibit allowing visitors to handle intertidal animals	There are many special exhibits presented — such as these Spotted Jellies. (Mastigias papua)
Flower Hat Jellyfish (Olindias formosa) another beautiful creature in the Jelly: Living Art exhibition.	Sea nettle Jellyfish (Chrysaora quinquecirrha)	Mediterranean Jellyfish (Cotylorhiza tuberculata)	Sea Otter exhibit is one of the favorites at the Aquarium.
Huge dislay window at Outer Bay exhibit	Large ocean sunfish (Mola mola)	Rockfish (Sebastidae) swimming around kelp forest	Orange sea pen (Ptilosarcus gurneyi)