Chicago's Shedd Aquarium

Last week I took a trip to The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. I hadn't been there since I was a kid am so excited that I finally made it back. The building is beautiful, the exhibits are educational and the aquatic life is just breath taking. From watching a snake eat a rat to dolphins jumping in unison, it was a wonderful visit that I won't soon forget.

Check out some cool facts about the aquarium on their website. One of the coolest facts...

"Shedd has the oldest aquatic animal in a public aquarium in the world, an Australian lungfish named Granddad. In 1933, a Shedd collecting team received Granddad and his mate from the Sydney aquarium. Traveling by steamer and Shedd’s railroad car, the

Nautilus, the fish arrived at the aquarium for the opening of the Century of Progress World’s Fair. Granddad was fully grown when he arrived, so he is at least 75 years old."

...and I got to see him!



Here are some of the pictures I took. I forgot my camera at home (UGH!) so I had to use my phone. Between that and the glare on the tanks these aren't the most fantastic pictures, but hey... more reason to get your lazy butt up and go yourself, right?

Stingrays

Tarantula! He had apples in his cage.

Toitle! (Turtle.)

See him? Yeah- he'd totally sneak up on anything he wanted to.

This Monkey Frog, along with many of his buddies, looked so much like he was made of plaster that we didn't realize he was real until we saw him breathe!

There was snake skin EVERYWHERE.

Here's the giant snake whose skin was all over... eating a rat. Ew.

Blue clawed prawn

Fly River Turtle... check out that handsome face!

Granddad! (Australian Lung Fish)

They briefly brought penguins out during the dolphin show- SO cute!

One of the whales featured in the dolphin show.

Coral is amazing. It would take coral 320 YEARS to grown to my height, 5'4".

Garden eels... these cuties were some of my favorites!

Frog Fish... doesn't he look a little like a Muppet?

Australian Southern Rock Crab

Look closely... can you see him?

He may look like a large rock, but this guy is actually an Alligator Snapping Turtle! He was huge, and not feeling overly photogenic, apparently. His face did resemble that of an alligator.

Iguana

The "Jellies" exhibit is small but exhilerating. Jellies have no brains or lungs. They breathe through their skin!

One way that Jellies reproduce when the sperm and egg meet and form a polyp that plants itself on the sea or ocean floor. These polyps can remain dormant for long periods of time, waiting for the perfect conditions.

Here's a site with some neat info on Jellyfish reproduction.

Egg Yolk Jelly.

Jellies lives anywhere from a few hours to several months. The Shedd is breeding them, and they allow you to see a jelly fish at it's earliest stages, when they're pretty much the size of fleas.

Jellies come in all sorts of colors and are mezmorizing to watch, as they float through the water.

This one almost looks fake, like he's in space. The specs are just debris/food floating in the water which created a pretty cool effect.

I hope everyone reading this gets a chance to visit The Shedd Aquarium. It's a trip not to be missed!

Happy exploring!