An Afternoon at the Aquarium

 

A couple of weeks ago I spent a lovely afternoon at the Berlin Aquarium which never fails to fascinate me.

Watching the different jellyfish floating elegantly up and down their water tanks kind of mesmerizes me. I’m aware though, that the effect would be quite different if I were to meet them in the wild. 😉

The Berlin Aquarium is one of very few places worldwide that successfully breeds jellyfish, the others are situated in Monterey Bay, California and Toba and Enochima in Japan. Biologists in Japan are concentrating on breeding the compass jellyfish among others, which is a traditional dish.

 

Compass jellyfish (Berlin 2018)

 

In Asia jellyfish are considered tasty as well as good for your health. Not surprisingly they consist mainly of water (95%) but the rest is rich in protein and also contains trace elements like potassium and magnesium.

They’re often served in a salad, cut into thin slices.

There’s one problem though – jellyfish are poisonous.

Traditionally the tentacles are removed by cutting them off by hand. Scientists are now researching methods on how to neutralize their poison in a more economical way.

 

This tiny beauty would easily fit in your palm – if you were stupid enough trying to hold it. 😉 (Berlin 2019)

 

Due to climate change jellyfish are becoming more and more of a plague because they flourish in warm polluted water. This does not only happen in Australia and New Zealand but in Europe as well.

By fishing and eating jellyfish instead of fish, we would actually be helping our oceans and in consequence, ourselves.

 

Blue plane (Berlin 2019)

 

Talking of which – I think this fish is growing legs in order to try to escape us humans. 😉

 

A fish with legs?! (Berlin 2019)

 

What I love about this shot, is that the person standing in front of the water tank seems to stand inside it.

It also makes me think how the oceans would benefit if we were only observers instead of invaders…

 

Under the sea (Berlin 2019)

 

To lighten up the mood, imagine me making silly cooing noises when I saw this little cutie pressed against the glass and looking directly at me! 😉

 

Hello! (Berlin 2019)

 

And shortly afterwards Dory said Hello as well! (I just love “Finding Dory” by the way. 😉 I think I might even like it more than “Finding Nemo”! )

 

Hello Dory! (Berlin 2019)

 

But from all the shots I made that day, I especially love this one – an encounter between a little girl and really big fish!

 

Little girl and big fish (Berlin 2019)

 

Hope you enjoyed this little trip to the aquarium, even if I made you cringe at the sheer  thought of eating jellyfish. 😉