Post by Daft Punksworth on Apr 4, 2011 19:04:35 GMT -5
NCARI = North Carolina Aquarium at Roanoke Island.
My veterinary assistant's class got an exclusive behind the scenes tour of the local aquarium. Exclusive because, I've been on a behind the scenes tour before, and that one didn't go to the quarantine building. X3
The Quarantine building is used for animals going into or out of the aquarium, injured or under observation residential creatures, or creatures that were rescued and being rehabilitated. Currently, since the NCARI is opening a pier with exhibits, there were a lot of fish on hold for the pier. However, we had some interesting things... I didn't take a picture of the first because I wasn't aware we could...
There was a moray eel that had taken a bite on a pufferfish that inflated, then died in its mouth so they had to take it into quarantine to take the fish out and hold the eel for observation... and it was good, because part of the tail started sloughing (falling) off. Something was wrong with the tail, it was just dying, so they had to amputate the moray's tail! The poor thing lost a third of his total length, but is healing well. Interestingly enough, they have to anesthetize him regularly just to feed him because he won't eat outside his tank... And also interestingly enough, surgery works so much more different on aquatic critters.
They couldn't stitch the amputation because it'd get infected since no matter how clean you keep the water, the animal will swim in its own filth, so they had to keep a rim of necrotic tissue on to keep it from bleeding while it healed...
Then we got to see (more pier-hold fish and) baby dogfish!
It's hard to see in the picture, but they're only half a foot long... So teeny!
Also in that tank were two other dogfish and a lobster. One dogfish because she was a popular girl (it's mating season and the boys will bite the females to mate) and the other because she stopped eating.
See how she's tadpole shaped? It's cos she's starved. T_T
BUT! the good news is, I checked on Friday, she DID eat on Wednesday... Not Thursday, but that was because she ate a lot on Wednesday...
Another dogfish hatchling, and the lobster... And guess where they found the lobster?
FOOD LION.
That's right, they rescued it from the grocery store. XDD
Young(ish) Horseshoe Crabs. They're about six/seven years old, but still small. Horseshoe crabs grow very slowly. o.o I remember seeing them years ago and they were an inch long.
We also got to see a young seaturtle they rescued from stranding:
we talked about it for a while and found out that turtle rescues have gone up, and when I asked if she thought it was because of climate or people becoming more aware, she said 'both'. Apparently during the Nino and Nina years, there's more strandings, but it's going up too, because people go up and down the beach looking for any stranded seaturtles.
And then I started wiggling.
One of the Jenifer's followed my gaze and grinned. "You see that door that says "Venemous Snakes" don't you?"
We got to go in. X3
And what a beautiful copperhead I did spy.
Apparently they reserve the copperhead for education, not display. Not sure why. They should have the copperhead on display near the cornsnakes and say "This is the cornsnake, cornsnake is friend. This is copperhead, avoid at all costs." I've had people call cornsnakes copperheads and that is so not true. >_<
And then we went inside, behind the smaller shark tank (in the newly remodled shark area for kids) and to another reptile room, and learned that the box turtles on exhibit had babies:
(And when Jenifer (same one, we have two Jenifer B's in our class XD) looked into the tank, one of the nurse sharks swam by. She went "HOLY SHARK!!!" XD Then me and Michael started quoting Finding Nemo. "I am a nice shark, not a mindless eating machine. If I am to change this image, I must first change myself. Fish are friends, not food." and burst out laughing. XD)
This is the moray's tankmate, who has been out in the tank instead of hiding.
Found out that eels form bonds and the tankmate is likely looking for the injured one, even though it's been a few weeks.
Then we went behind the GYA (Graveyard of the Atlantic) tank... Which Jen (our tour leader) explained that, if you take a bath in an average bathtub EVERYDAY for FIVE YEARS, you MIGHT fill up the GYA tank. XD It's huge. Then we went behind it and she explained how they feed (target for sharks, broadcast for the others) and scuba dive and etc. And I just had to record the sound of the filter system because it sounded so much like a giant heartbeat, but sadly a lot of the buzz of the machines back there made it hard to hear. But for comparison...
This is the viewing area for the normal Moray exhibit where the tankmate swims about looking for his buddy...
This is behind GYA, you might hear the deep thrumming of the filter system if your speakers are nicer than mine.
My veterinary assistant's class got an exclusive behind the scenes tour of the local aquarium. Exclusive because, I've been on a behind the scenes tour before, and that one didn't go to the quarantine building. X3
The Quarantine building is used for animals going into or out of the aquarium, injured or under observation residential creatures, or creatures that were rescued and being rehabilitated. Currently, since the NCARI is opening a pier with exhibits, there were a lot of fish on hold for the pier. However, we had some interesting things... I didn't take a picture of the first because I wasn't aware we could...
There was a moray eel that had taken a bite on a pufferfish that inflated, then died in its mouth so they had to take it into quarantine to take the fish out and hold the eel for observation... and it was good, because part of the tail started sloughing (falling) off. Something was wrong with the tail, it was just dying, so they had to amputate the moray's tail! The poor thing lost a third of his total length, but is healing well. Interestingly enough, they have to anesthetize him regularly just to feed him because he won't eat outside his tank... And also interestingly enough, surgery works so much more different on aquatic critters.
They couldn't stitch the amputation because it'd get infected since no matter how clean you keep the water, the animal will swim in its own filth, so they had to keep a rim of necrotic tissue on to keep it from bleeding while it healed... Then we got to see (more pier-hold fish and) baby dogfish!
It's hard to see in the picture, but they're only half a foot long... So teeny!
Also in that tank were two other dogfish and a lobster. One dogfish because she was a popular girl (it's mating season and the boys will bite the females to mate) and the other because she stopped eating.
See how she's tadpole shaped? It's cos she's starved. T_T
BUT! the good news is, I checked on Friday, she DID eat on Wednesday... Not Thursday, but that was because she ate a lot on Wednesday...
Another dogfish hatchling, and the lobster... And guess where they found the lobster?
FOOD LION.
That's right, they rescued it from the grocery store. XDD
Young(ish) Horseshoe Crabs. They're about six/seven years old, but still small. Horseshoe crabs grow very slowly. o.o I remember seeing them years ago and they were an inch long.
We also got to see a young seaturtle they rescued from stranding:
we talked about it for a while and found out that turtle rescues have gone up, and when I asked if she thought it was because of climate or people becoming more aware, she said 'both'. Apparently during the Nino and Nina years, there's more strandings, but it's going up too, because people go up and down the beach looking for any stranded seaturtles.
And then I started wiggling.
One of the Jenifer's followed my gaze and grinned. "You see that door that says "Venemous Snakes" don't you?"
We got to go in. X3
And what a beautiful copperhead I did spy.
Apparently they reserve the copperhead for education, not display. Not sure why. They should have the copperhead on display near the cornsnakes and say "This is the cornsnake, cornsnake is friend. This is copperhead, avoid at all costs." I've had people call cornsnakes copperheads and that is so not true. >_<
And then we went inside, behind the smaller shark tank (in the newly remodled shark area for kids) and to another reptile room, and learned that the box turtles on exhibit had babies:
(And when Jenifer (same one, we have two Jenifer B's in our class XD) looked into the tank, one of the nurse sharks swam by. She went "HOLY SHARK!!!" XD Then me and Michael started quoting Finding Nemo. "I am a nice shark, not a mindless eating machine. If I am to change this image, I must first change myself. Fish are friends, not food." and burst out laughing. XD)
This is the moray's tankmate, who has been out in the tank instead of hiding.
Found out that eels form bonds and the tankmate is likely looking for the injured one, even though it's been a few weeks.
Then we went behind the GYA (Graveyard of the Atlantic) tank... Which Jen (our tour leader) explained that, if you take a bath in an average bathtub EVERYDAY for FIVE YEARS, you MIGHT fill up the GYA tank. XD It's huge. Then we went behind it and she explained how they feed (target for sharks, broadcast for the others) and scuba dive and etc. And I just had to record the sound of the filter system because it sounded so much like a giant heartbeat, but sadly a lot of the buzz of the machines back there made it hard to hear. But for comparison...
This is the viewing area for the normal Moray exhibit where the tankmate swims about looking for his buddy...
This is behind GYA, you might hear the deep thrumming of the filter system if your speakers are nicer than mine.
