And then today the World's Greatest Aquarium! Sea otters! Young Sea Otters playing two inches from your nose! Giant Pacific Octopus! Hammerhead sharks and penguins and mesmermizing jellyfish and moray eels in every shade and tufted puffins and a massive Ocean Sunfish (so ill-shaped) and elaborate seahorses named Weedy Dragons and sea turtles that we took pictures of for Jess.
Oh, wow, seriously? They had a gigantic floating head on your visit? My one regret from my visit to Monterey was the absence of sunfish at that time. (More precisely, they claimed to have one, but it was a juvenile and not particularly distinguishable.)
Ryan is currently top of his childcare class in seahorse identification. I've lately been rereading this book: [link] Ryan can never pass up the chance to meditate upon its cover. (His mantra: "Seahorse!")
They had a gigantic floating head on your visit?
They did. It was huge and, well, really ugly. We all agreed it was the most ill-shaped fish we saw. Even uglier than some of the creepy crabs.
But impressively large and ugly. We got many closeup views of it. Emmett got some on his iPhone; I'll have him send me one to post.
I've lately been rereading this book: [link].
I just bought it. Anything that you are rereading and is a field that interests me, I know I should just get it. Thanks for the unintended recommendation, billytea.
Even uglier than some of the creepy crabs.
Do you mean the spider crabs? I do like the spider crabs.
Hey, which penguin species do they have at Monterey now? Melbourne has only two, but they're an impressive two: gentoos and kings. Taronga Zoo has a display of plastic friezes of all seventeen species, though they're limited to the little penguins in the live variety.
Oddly and inexplicably, there are penguins at a hotel near here. In Hawaii. It doesn't seem right. There are also flamingos and ibexes. All outdoors.
Do you mean the spider crabs? I do like the spider crabs.
No, there were some spiny crabs and then this stone crab that was creepy. Also they had a HUGE 60 y.o. lobster.
Hey, which penguin species do they have at Monterey now?
I don't know! Smallish.
In the Flamingo exhibit they had a Scarlet Ibex! So freakin' cool. Also some very galumphing Spoonbills.
Leafy Dragon seahorse
Fancy jellyfish.
Emmett's iPhone takes better pictures than our digital camera.
I just bought it. Anything that you are rereading and is a field that interests me, I know I should just get it. Thanks for the unintended recommendation, billytea.
It's a fantastic read. The author has been at the forefront of evolutionary thought through the 20th century, so he speaks with authority. Frankly, more so than Dawkins, not to diss his ability either to communicate evolutionary ideas or to marry former Time Ladies. (This is not simply a gratuitous comparison, as there's at least one point of contention between the two in which Mayr is fairly scornful of Dawkins' position.) And he's not afraid to use that authority; he'll quite happily stake out a position on contentious issues and argue his case, objectivity be damned. (For instance: he argues against birds being descended from dinosaurs, arguing instead that they both evolved from a common ancestor. I should note that subsequent fossil finds in China have pretty much spelt the end of this particular controversy.)
His relationship to a lay audience is complicated, however, I think he does a great job of explaining key ideas with admirable clarity. (His section on explaining the five different concepts that went into Darwin's theory of evolution is superb.) However, where his explication runs into technical terminology, he'll simply use it, without either skirting or explaining (if it's not germane to his main point). That can appear daunting; I'm appreciative, however. I've been reading the book with Wikipedia open on my iPhone, and where he drops these nods to a deeper topic, I'll take a detour to gather what he's referring to. I spent an entire afternoon plumbing the details of archosaurs and synapsids, and following linky treasure hunts, before getting back to the printed page.
Plus, it has a seahorse on the front, and carries Ryan's stamp of approval. ("Seahorse!" Back cover: "No seahorse.")
Those are some excellent pics. I love the lighting for the jellyfish; I recall Monterey's presentation being simply arresting.
