277: Jellyfish

The Akron Zoo  has a jellyfish exhibit titled Jellies: A Rhythm in Blue.  It was one of my favorite exhibits, perhaps because it’s not easy (but not impossible) for me to anthropomorphize when it comes to some aquatic creatures.  It’s particularly difficult with jellyfish since they don’t have any recognizably facial-like features (easily explained by the fact that they don’t have faces).

None of the shots I took are very good, but they will give you some idea of what the exhibit was like.  In my defense, I was there with my family, including two children (ages 6 and 2) who didn’t want to wait all day while I figured out how to shoot through glass avoiding glare, reflections, and fingerprints.

This is the Akron Zoo’s first saltwater exhibit.  There are ten aquariums featuring seven different types of jellyfish.  The jellies are fascinating to watch.  I’d like to go back and spend more time looking at them (and yes, trying to photograph them).  Perhaps M and I can fit in a visit during the week sometime soon.

I could have flipped that last photo for you (and it does look kind of cool that way), but it wouldn’t have been accurate.  Quite a few of the jellyfish were swimming upside down.  Having said that, let’s do it just for fun:

The flipped version

I like it better that way as it looks the way I expect jellyfish to look.  Expectations and reality don’t always match, do they?

I was surprised to discover (once I got home, of course) that I didn’t take any photos of my favorite which was the spotted jellyfish.  Yet another reason to go back and see the exhibit again.

Some of the jellies, such as the one pictured above, looked as though they had neon or some sort of lighted gel flowing through their bodies.

If you want to see more, check out this video on YouTube.  It shows a few of the jellyfish that I either missed or didn’t capture well enough to put on the blog.

Today’s outdoor adventures were not terribly exciting.  I had chores to do.  Weeding, hanging laundry, that sort of thing.  I didn’t take the camera along since I still have plenty of photos from the weekend to upload, sort, etc.

It’s a beautiful, summery day here in the Bogs.  The sun is shining, it’s quite warm (in the 80s), but it’s relatively dry which makes it not so bad.  The breeze is helpful in keeping things a little cooler, too.

That’s about it from the Bogs for today.  I’ll be back tomorrow with an example of what I meant when I wrote about anthropomorphizing.

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