Northern Pacific Aquarium
Go Deeper
What is an aquarium? The common person will typically respond by saying that an aquarium is identical to a regular zoo and holds fish instead of land animals. However, an aquarium typically contains more than just fish it contains multiple marine organisms. Specifically, an aquarium contains marine mammals, jellyfish, corals, and sharks including a number of other marine organisms. There is something interesting for a first time visitor to the aquarium which is most of the marine organisms live in communities. What are communities? A community, as Tom Garrison a scientist defines "community", is made up of " many populations of organisms that interact at a particular location" (Oceanography: An Invitation pg.456); however in this …show more content…
case certain marine organisms interact with other populations in a tank like they will at the ocean. Also, the definition for a population is seen as "a group of organisms of the same species occupying a specific area." (Oceanography pg.456). Unfortunately, the first time visitor will probably have confusion on where to start off in the Aquarium Of The Pacific. Let us guide this first time visitor.
First of all, it is best if the visitor first starts off with the bottom marine organisms. This due to the fact that the visitor starts with the bottom of the marine life and has an idea of the structure of the ocean. Specifically, the visitor will first get the chance to touch moon jellyfish which do not pose a threat to humans due to the fact that their cnidoblasts will not penetrate human flesh. Also, there is not a lot of communities in the is area which is the Ocean Exploration area. The visitor will then understand that these marine organisms are the bottom dwellers of the ocean and depend on the organism on the upper part of the ocean, which is the pycnocline, for food and nutrients. For example, deep sea arthropods, such as the squat lobster, depends on fallen carcass from animals to feed on in order to get nutrients. The first time visitor will also see different types of deep sea Echinodermata. Eventually the visitor moves on into other areas of the aquarium that will contain large communities.
Surprisingly, the visitor will encounter the Northern Pacific exhibit in the aquarium which contains various communities.
One interesting detail about the Northern Pacific exhibit is most if not all the organisms live in communities in this exhibit. Specifically, the sea otter lives with fishes that have a niche for cleaning the water in a way. What is a niche? A niche is an organism's "occupation within that habitat, its relationship to food and enemies, an expression of what the organism is doing."(Oceanography pg.457), and this fish tends to clean the tank by eating the fesses of the sea otter, just as the class saw, as well as eating algae that accumulate within the tank. Moving along this exhibit the visitor will encounter the giant Japanese spider (marcocheria kaempferi) crab that is in a community with other marine organisms like lobsters. However, both of the lobster and spider crab have the same niche which is to clean the ocean floor or this case the tank especially when the fish within this tank eat their food and it falls to the bottom of the tank. Probably the most popular exhibit, most exciting, and largest community exhibit the visitor will explore is the shark exhibit. Specifically, the visitor will find out that the skin of sharks is rough due to the fact that their skin is made up of microscopic teeth, especially the zebra shark whose skin is the roughest and their scientific name is stegostoma fasciatum. The visitor will also note that this exhibit has a large community, because it contains rays like the whip tail ray. Specifically, during feeding time the sharks eat then the ray usually eats the leftover
food.
Conclusively, a visitor should get a bigger insight on the aquarium rather than just looking at the marine organisms. Additionally, the visitor should also look at why these marine organisms are in the same tank. Conclusively, the visitor should start with the deepest marine organisms so they may appreciate the ocean.
What is an aquarium? The common person will typically respond by saying that an aquarium is identical to a regular zoo and holds fish instead of land animals. However, an aquarium typically contains more than just fish it contains multiple marine organisms. Specifically, an aquarium contains marine mammals, jellyfish, corals, and sharks including a number of other marine organisms. There is something interesting for a first time visitor to the aquarium which is most of the marine organisms live in communities. What are communities? A community, as Tom Garrison a scientist defines "community", is made up of " many populations of organisms that interact at a particular location" (Oceanography: An Invitation pg.456); however in this …show more content…
case certain marine organisms interact with other populations in a tank like they will at the ocean. Also, the definition for a population is seen as "a group of organisms of the same species occupying a specific area." (Oceanography pg.456). Unfortunately, the first time visitor will probably have confusion on where to start off in the Aquarium Of The Pacific. Let us guide this first time visitor.
First of all, it is best if the visitor first starts off with the bottom marine organisms. This due to the fact that the visitor starts with the bottom of the marine life and has an idea of the structure of the ocean. Specifically, the visitor will first get the chance to touch moon jellyfish which do not pose a threat to humans due to the fact that their cnidoblasts will not penetrate human flesh. Also, there is not a lot of communities in the is area which is the Ocean Exploration area. The visitor will then understand that these marine organisms are the bottom dwellers of the ocean and depend on the organism on the upper part of the ocean, which is the pycnocline, for food and nutrients. For example, deep sea arthropods, such as the squat lobster, depends on fallen carcass from animals to feed on in order to get nutrients. The first time visitor will also see different types of deep sea Echinodermata. Eventually the visitor moves on into other areas of the aquarium that will contain large communities.
Surprisingly, the visitor will encounter the Northern Pacific exhibit in the aquarium which contains various communities.
One interesting detail about the Northern Pacific exhibit is most if not all the organisms live in communities in this exhibit. Specifically, the sea otter lives with fishes that have a niche for cleaning the water in a way. What is a niche? A niche is an organism's "occupation within that habitat, its relationship to food and enemies, an expression of what the organism is doing."(Oceanography pg.457), and this fish tends to clean the tank by eating the fesses of the sea otter, just as the class saw, as well as eating algae that accumulate within the tank. Moving along this exhibit the visitor will encounter the giant Japanese spider (marcocheria kaempferi) crab that is in a community with other marine organisms like lobsters. However, both of the lobster and spider crab have the same niche which is to clean the ocean floor or this case the tank especially when the fish within this tank eat their food and it falls to the bottom of the tank. Probably the most popular exhibit, most exciting, and largest community exhibit the visitor will explore is the shark exhibit. Specifically, the visitor will find out that the skin of sharks is rough due to the fact that their skin is made up of microscopic teeth, especially the zebra shark whose skin is the roughest and their scientific name is stegostoma fasciatum. The visitor will also note that this exhibit has a large community, because it contains rays like the whip tail ray. Specifically, during feeding time the sharks eat then the ray usually eats the leftover
food.
Conclusively, a visitor should get a bigger insight on the aquarium rather than just looking at the marine organisms. Additionally, the visitor should also look at why these marine organisms are in the same tank. Conclusively, the visitor should start with the deepest marine organisms so they may appreciate the ocean.