| The Sea Life Centre is
said to be a really good exhibition of native Alaskan sea life, so we went to visit.
The first tank contained this red king crab. Since the largest
recorded one was five feet leg span, this is only a baby! |  |
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Another tank had a number of prawns. These are partly translucent and
photograph really well. |
| The starfish are really
colourful. I assume that is how they attract their prey. |  |
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The sea anemones seem to be doing very well in the aquaria. |
| Fish are amazingly
difficult to photograph because they are constantly moving and the light
levels are very low. Flash rebounds from the glass. Although most tanks had
details of the fish in them there were many fish in each tank and they often
looked very similar. They are all ugly! |  |
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And they always look so miserable. |
| Some like to just stay
very still, but if I was small I think I'd find this one quite scary. |  |
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This one on the other hand never stayed still for a moment. |
| Fish aren't the only sea
life. There is also a large pool with seabirds. This was one of the more colourful.
There were a pair and they stayed close together. |  |
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This is a horned puffin. They are regarded as comedians because they look funny. |
| Another colourful
creature. I'm not sure whether these are seabirds or ducks. |  |
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This sea lion was huge. It swam around its pool absolutely effortlessly. On
land they are ungainly but in the water....... |
| This is a harbour seal.
Much smaller than the sea lion but equally at home in the water. |  |
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There was a number of small aquaria with life from various levels in the sea.
This is quite deep. |
| There was of course quite a big
section on salmon at different stages in their life. These are very young. |  |
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These are much larger just as they depart into the sea from the river in
which they were born.. |
| Another ugly fish. It
seemed to like swimming at a 45º angle. |  |
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Down on the lower level we were able to get an underwater view of the sea
lion tank and get a better idea of the true size and grace of these
creatures. |
| The flat fish behind is a
halibut. They can be huge. Fishermen start boasting when they weigh more
than 50 lbs. It looks as though it would be well camouflaged on the sea bed. |  |
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These are Pacific cod. They live at from 40 to 1800ft deep and can grow to
almost four feet. They are a major commercial fish. |
| You can tell I'm not a
fisherman or I might know what this is. |  |
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They all look as though there is enough flesh on them to make a good meal. |
| The last tank held
jellyfish. These can thrive in waters with very little oxygen and so are
often a sign of trouble in the water. |  |
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