Gala Giveaway Sweepstakes
Enter the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s “Gala Giveaway” sweepstakes and you could win two tickets to the Cooking for Solutions grand culinary celebration on Friday May 17! You’ll taste gourmet dishes prepared by celebrity chefs and 80 outstanding restaurants, along with organic and sustainable wines from 60 premium West Coast wineries and microbrews from six breweries. Now that’s what we call a delicious way to spend an evening!
Bonus: Based on entries received each week, we’ll select one weekly winner to receive a gift package filled with some surprisingly delightful goodies!
Older than dinosaurs? Indeed! Horseshoe crabs have been around for hundreds of millions of years and are said to be “living fossils.” You can view these tiny, quarter-size juveniles now in our “Secret Lives of Seahorses” special exhibition. Happy Monday!
Learn more about “The Secret Lives of Seahorses.”
Remember Denny and Neema, the African spotted-necked, freshwater otters from our former Wild About Otters exhibit? We’re happy to say they’re thriving at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo!
Your Friday puzzler: where was this photo taken at the Aquarium?
Thanks to Aquarist Laura Tocki-Toggenburger for the great shot!
Learn more about our exhibits.
Answer: It’s the “sardine roundabout” at the entrance to the Open Sea exhibit.
Great news! The latest round of Seafood Watch updates includes more new and revised recommendations than ever before—everything from wild-caught clams, to oysters, Atlantic flatfish and farmed tilapia. We’re most excited about the “upgrading” of several species from “Avoid” to “Good Alternative,” which indicates positive changes for fisheries management.
How do otters celebrate Easter? Our clever aquarists know eggsactly what they need: colored ice eggs with treats inside!
Shown are Gidget, Abby and Ivy.
Need an attitude adjustment at work? Try this computer wallpaper!
Check out all our wallpapers for your computer, mobile phone, and Facebook page.
The Traveling Turtle Goes on Exhibit!
Remember our traveling turtle? The young endangered loggerhead is now on exhibit in our Open Sea galleries.
The baby turtle weighs 1 pound, 2.5 ounces and is almost 6 inches long. It made a splash even before it arrived at the Aquarium in late December. Then, Curator Steve Vogel and his rare passenger were bumped from their flight to Monterey from North Carolina. After a day’s delay, the pair received the red-carpet treatment flying back to California on US Airways. The sea turtle stayed by Steve’s side in the cabin, and kept warm inside a carrier lying atop a towel covering a hot water bottle.
We shared details and pictures of the entire trip on social media sites, especially Twitter, via the hashtag #TravelingTurtle. As the journey occurred just before Christmas, many people empathized with travel delays and the desire to just go home.
Read all the stories on our blog.
The turtle is on exhibit by itself for now, but will soon be joined by mohara and French grunt fishes. Together, the tropical community exhibit represents species affected by overfishing. Those species of fishes are caught using a trawl, which indiscriminately scrapes sea floors in pursuit of maybe one or two species. As a result, an average of 10 pounds of “bycatch” – including loggerhead sea turtles – dies in pursuit of one pound of fish. (Recently, significant coastal protections for loggerheads were being implemented.)
The turtle will remain at the Aquarium from six to 24 months, depending on its growth rate. Since it will eventually be released back into the wild, aquarists are taking a “hands-off” approach and not hand-feeding it or spending more time with it than necessary. They’ll continue to keep track of the hatchling’s weight through routine exams. Aquarium staff is unsure if it’s male or female. Even experts can’t tell a sea turtle’s gender until it’s around 10 years old.
The turtle is one of nine hatchlings rescued in early 2012 by colleagues with the North Carolina Aquarium. These turtles didn’t make it back to sea with their nest-mates, and were raised at the aquarium. All nine are on loan to aquariums around the country, where they’ll live for up to two years before they’re returned to North Carolina, tagged and released.
We guarantee you won’t go hungry at the Cooking for Solutions Gala on May 17! With more than 80 tasting stations and 60 wineries offering their best selections, you’re in for an unforgettable evening!
