I like the Florida Aquarium, in Tampa. Though it's not to the scale of the much larger Monterey Aquarium, it's quite a bit bigger than most other Aquariums I've been in, it has a lot of exhibits from a variety of habitats, and it has all the aquatic species (most of them native to Florida) that people like to see, from sharks to octopus to stingrays. And there is a tour boat that travels from the Aquarium out onto Tampa Bay, to see dolphins, sea birds, and sometimes sharks.
So here are some photos from a recent day at the Aquarium.
The Florida Aquarium.
The horseshoe crab touch-tank, where visitors can interact with live horseshoe crabs.
Though not really "crabs", these critters are interesting and prehistoric-looking.
The Wetlands Trail exhibit. Traces the path of a single raindrop from the time it falls into an upland river until it reaches the sea.
A pair of Florida gar.
An American Crocodile.
The Aquarium also contains a number of animals other than fish. Here is a Bobwhite.
A pair of Map Turtles.
An exhibit of Mangrove trees.
A Red Drum fish. About four feet long.
The open-air exhibits inside the dome-screened atrium.
A couple of sea urchins.
Upside-Down Jellyfish.
Anemones.
A pair of Diamondback Terrapins.
Saltwater angelfish.
Snook.
The atrium dome.
A Horned Owl who sleeps the day away on exhibit.
An exhibit of antique aquarium hobbyist equipment.
Green Pufferfish. A brackish-water species.
Freshwater Angelfish.
Clown Loaches.
Tiger Barbs, my favorite. I have a tank full of Tiger Barbs at home.
African Clawed Frogs. Introduced to Florida's waterways through the pet trade.
Discus fish.
The atrium contains a number of free-roaming Florida birds. This is a Roseate Spoonbill.
Snowy Egret. Back in the 1910's, its feathers were used for women's hats, and it was hunted almost to extinction.
Atrium viewed from the upper floor.
The underside of a stingray, as it presses against the glass.
South African penguins. There is a penguin show for the kids every afternoon.
Double-Crested Cormorant.
River Otter.
Rock Lobster.
The Goliath Grouper. About six feet long. Our largest native fish.
The Stingray touch-tank.
Cow-Nose Rays in the touch tank.
Petting the stingrays.
The outdoors children's play area.
The "No Bone Zone"--a touch-tank with sea stars, anemones, urchins, and sea cucumbers.
The Coral Reef exhibit.
Stingray swims through one of the large reef tanks.
The large shark tank.
Sand tiger sharks.
Crab.
Sea Cucumber.
Cleaner Shrimp.
Anemone Clown Fish.
Octopus hiding in the corner.
Horseshoe crabs.
Batfish.
Moray Eel.
A school of Grunts.
Sea Horses.
Sea Dragons.
Sea Star.
The dolphin tour boat.
Tampa Harbor.
A brightly-painted oil storage tank.
A dry dock for ship repair.
Downtown Tampa skyline from Tampa Bay.
Marker buoys. Because Tampa Bay averages only ten feet deep, channels for shipping must be dredged to a depth of 25-30 feet. The buoys mark the edges of the dredged channels.
Several large artificial islands have been built in the Bay from dredge material. These are maintained as bird nesting refuges where humans are forbidden to land.
A Brown pelican cruises low over the water.
If you look close, you can see the dorsal fin of a dolphin that is riding the bow wave of this tugboat.