AQWA

Pineapple fish

Last Monday I went to the Aquarium of Western Australia (AQWA) in Hilary's Harbour located north of Perth. After taking several buses and trains to get there, we finally found it!


The aquarium was small, but included several interesting exhibits of areas around Australia. One of my favorites was the "dangerous animals" section which included a blue-ringed octopus, jellyfish, and a rockfish. It was nice to be reminded that there are a lot of dangerous creatures lurking around Australia.

One of my favorite animals there was the cuttlefish, a mollusc . It has one "bone" inside made out of aragonite, a type of calcium carbonate. The cuttlebone is filled with air pockets and the cuttlefish can adjust the air to water ratio to sink or float. When I was at Rottnest Island yesterday I saw a few of the cuttlebone plates on the beach. They feel like styrofoam and are really light. Apparently, they are often sold in pet stores as calcium supplements. Cuttlefish also have three hearts, can produce ink , and are able to change color. Here is one below:


Another great part of the aquarium was a tunnel under a huge tank. Inside the tunnel was a moving sidewalk (like at the airport) where people could hop on and off. The children seemed to really enjoy it and so did I.

I also saw several rays and learned that the ray and shark have a common ancestor.

They have similar tails.