Sydney Aquarium ...

The Sydney Aquarium is one of the largest aquariums in the world and is a huge attraction located in Darling Harbour. It is also an animal research site currently studying the effects of heavy metal contamination in marine environments. There was a lot to be learned there and I'm glad I went.

The aquarium had a major shark attraction and a lot of space dedicated to the Great Barrier Reef, which was exceptionally sweet.

Definitely not what you find in the Missouri:

I have this fascination with seahorses. They are so interesting from their physical characteristics to their social behaviors. Not to mention the fact that the men court the women, they hold hands (or intertwine tails) and give birth to the babies.

The male seahorse had just given birth to hundreds of babies.

All of those specs are baby seahorses & they looked really amazing under the microscope:

Starfish are weird. Hands down.:

The touch pool was really interesting. It reminded me of scuba diving in Mexico and being able to touch all the creepy floaty underwater whatnots.

The shark tank is one of the biggest exhibits at the aquarium. You walked through these huge shark tunnels and even the floor was glass. The sharks were huge, kind of creepy, and they were close enough that I could see their teeth.

Cool, huh?

And then came my favorite part of the whole thing ... one of my favorite animals EVER ... the Little Blue Penguins, or Fairy Penguins. They are the smallest species of penguin and are only about 16 inches tall and weigh like 2 lbs. They are found in New Zealand and Australia and I really, really want to have one. More than I want a seahorse. :)much love

-tara-

xx