One Day, Two Aquariums

Today, Megan and I took a train to Stralsund to visit two of the aquariums in the town. Our first stop was the Ozeaneum - a large aquarium in Northern Germany that portrays sea life of both the North and Baltic Seas. 

 There were so many awesome exhibits! I felt like a mermaid the entire day. Here is a little insight into what we encountered...

There were tons of invertebrates:

Seashells

Sea urchins, shells, and sea stars

Preserved Cephalopods

Echinoderms, some of my favorite invertebrates!

Colorful Crab

Purple Sea Anemones

As well as some really cool fish:

Didn't get the names of these guys, but at least they posed for me!

I spy with my little eye...a flounder!

School of fish

And even penguins!

A Humboldt Penguin

But of course, the marine mammals were my favorite...

Sperm Whale Skeleton

I even got to pretend to be a grey seal (my favorite seal) for a couple of seconds! 

I think this was supposed to be for kids...

A real, yet no longer living grey seal

One of the exhibits, called "Giants of the Deep" had a large room with life size models of a Blue, Humpback, Orca and Sperm whales hanging from the ceiling. On the floor, there were lounge chairs to lie on underneath the whales. There were lights that simulated the sun streaming through the surface of the ocean, and they played whale songs as you looked up at the most beautiful animals imaginable! Needless to say, this was my favorite part.

"Giants of the Deep" exhibit

Model of a Humpback Whale

After we saw everything at the Ozeaneum, we headed over to the Meeresmuseum. This aquarium, which also focused on fisheries, shipping, and ocean health, is located in a former monastery.

Outside of the Meeresmuseum

There was some pretty awesome ocean life here as well:

Spotted Ray

Sea Turtle

purple and pink fish

came out to say hello!

I had such a beautiful day learning about marine life. I just can't seem to get enough of it.

Love,

Vanessa