'Branching at the Aquarium

Since the conditions were so bad at the Breakwater, we decided to hit the Aquarium in the afternoon, in hopes of actually seeing something interesting. We got there about 45 minutes before closing, so we just had time to hit our favorite spots. It turned out to be quite a treat. The water was hazy, from the crappy water being pulled in from the bay. It was the haziest I have ever seen the water there. But that did not deter us from scouring the tanks for nudibranchs. They have a couple of tanks that are supposed to have nudibranchs including a dedicated nudibranch tank (which is pretty new, it's near the penguins upstairs), but they often appear in other tanks as well. So we are always looking around just in case. The best find was in the skeleton shrimp tank, where we found a pair of Polycera atra. I've only seen one ever before, so that was exciting. We also found Spanish shawls in that tanks as well as in the pier pilings tank. The dedicated nudibranch tank was full of nudis. It seems to be quite variable in terms of both the number and species in there. Today they had several Dirona picta, which I have never seen before. There were also tons of Dorids in there.

We also visited the Melibe exhibit, and the Pacific Spiny Lumpsuckers in the tank nearby. I think they are the cutest animals at the aquarium, even cuter than the sea otters! Speaking of otters, I was delighted to find a tiny cat-toy-sized stuffed sea otter at the gift shop. Pepper was quite pleased with the selection. Unfortunately Oreo only likes tiny toys, so she's not really a fan.