After our delightful experience at Ruby Falls, we headed downtown to the Chattanooga Aquarium. Can you believe this is one of the best aquariums around and I have never been?
The major exhibit was the jellyfish, which was interesting. They were displayed as “living art” and after seeing all of the exhibits, I was convinced. Not that I am any less scared of them! But I must admit, they are beautiful. And I never knew there were so many different kinds!
The upside-down variety:
This is an actual…..animal?…..fish?….sea creature? We were fascinated.
And plenty of reptiles, naturally:
I can’t stand turtles! I don’t think they are cute at all and they give me the same eewwwwww feeling as a snake does. I don’t CARE if they are the slowest creatures on the planet and have no defense mechanisms except for the shell! Just look at this guy! Something about him is just so creepy. Those eyes! Those claws! That neck!!!
But I do think penguins are super cute! I don’t know if I had ever seen a penguin in real life before the aquarium. Maybe at a zoo? Anyway, they are so funny to watch. The waddle is hilarious!
Miscellaneous fish and sea life: 
And more jellies:
I love otters just about as much as penguins. This is not a good picture, but he is swimming straight toward me and I thought it was so funny. The otters just swam frantically around the tank.
Tons of seahorses, and they were so cute! They even had pot-bellied seahorses! One fact about these creatures that I did not know: the males do the whole pregnancy thing.
Jelly glass art display. I loved these things!
So the aquarium was really interesting and there were lots of other creatures that we didn’t get pictures of or the pictures didn’t turn out great. We saw an octopus! And piranhas! And tree frogs! And sharks! And sting rays! Actually, they had a supervised stingray tank so that all of the little kiddies could touch a stingray. Me and Brent get right up to the edge of the petting tank, in the middle of the crowd, and I say: “Did you want to pet a stingray?” He answers: “Um, no, you couldn’t pay me a million dollars to pet one of those things. They’re dangerous! They’ll kill you! Don’t you remember what happened to the Crocodile Hunter?” My goodness. Right in front of the little kids with their hands in the water touching said creatures, their parents who no doubt remember the tragic fate of the Crocodile Hunter, and the employee who was teaching the kids about the gentle ways of the stingrays. We just kind of slunk off after that. No choice.
But all in all, it was fun!
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