The Jelly Experience and Baby Seals

April is seal-pupping season! Colleen and I went down to Hopkins Marine Station beach (which is reserved for seals) to inspect. We saw several teeny baby seals with folds of skin that will fill out with milk-blubber in a matter of days. We saw one mama seal with blood still on her hind end, belying how recently she gave birth. And we saw another with the afterbirth still hanging out! The seagulls were pestering her, trying to get at it. She was too far away for me to get a decent picture, unfortunately.

Nursing pup. You can barely see the redness (blood) on Mom from the birth.

Better view of the bloodiness.

Later in the evening, I took Colleen and Travis to the Staff-and-Family/Friends opening of The Jellies Experience, the new exhibit at the Aquarium. I think jellyfish are pretty neat, but I was surprised to hear way back when that the new exhibit was going to be another jellyfish exhibit, because we already have one at the aquarium. But apparently jellyfish continue to rank among the very highest rated exhibits every year. People love them! And I suppose it's a no-brainer for the curators: cheap and easy to care for creatures that everyone loves? Let's do it! And I gotta say, I was not expecting to be all that impressed by the exhibit, but I totally was. The exhibit designers and curators at the aquarium are top-notch. It was super fun, mesmerizing, and beautiful.

This is the same species as the one above, just a different color.

I love the tiny 'jewel' spots around the edges of the bulb.

Phosphorescence!

They also had this fabulous kaleidoscope where you become your own version of a jellyfish by standing in front of the wall/camera, and watching what is projected. We had a lot of fun at that part of the exhibit!