New York Aquarium

http://www.nyaquarium.com/

So this weekend was actually one that was fun-filled, and relaxing to boot. Saturday the sun was shining and it was rather warm. I guess Indian-summer has decided to show up after all. So trying to find something fun (and not normal weekend stuff) I signed on to check out the goings-on at the New York Aquarium, in Brooklyn NY. I hadn’t been there in probably 24 years, and Ida and I had talked about going several times in the recent past.
Hopping in to the car, we made our way in to see the fishies, mammals, and even the *yikes* sharks. I was anxious to see the Beluga Whales, with their smiling faces…and the penguins. Instead, what did we get? Miniature penguins…Or what I laughingly refer to midget penguins (compared to what they once had). These penguins are Black Foot Penguins aka jackass penguins due to their braying sounds. But they hung out on cliffs in their area, not near the walls of their pen. And whales? Nope…not here. They got rid of the whales about a year ago (no one I asked about them really could provide an answer why they got rid of them.)
What did we get to see? We went in to the shark house…and even in their tanks, swimming so close up to the people it was intimidating. And these were only sand, and nurse, and spotted sharks. There is one whole ‘house’ dedicated to jelly fish and anemones, and that was really cool. I think we may have even seen Sea Horses mating...or maybe they had just decided to huddle together. Seals and a sea lion show. Sea otters, and a Sea Horse exhibit. In the Sea Horse exhibit, they had this one fish tooling around the tanks. He was just SO cute…aside from the Sea Lion who was sick, this Cow Fish was my favorite. I thought he was so cute and cool; I have included a whole blurb and link about Cow Fish. All in all it was a really nice day, and we enjoyed ourselves.
http://www.cowfishes.com/
Cowfish are found in the unique scientific family Ostraciidae, along with boxfish. This family shares many fascinating and unusual characteristics with other families found in the scientific order Tetraodontiformidae.
The names cowfish, boxfish, and trunkfish are often used interchangeably. Typically, the tropical fish from Indo-Pacific waters are square in cross section, and resemble more of a traditional box. These are most accurately referred to as boxfish. Those found in Atlantic and Caribbean waters are more triangular in cross section. They are called trunkfish. A boxfish or trunkfish with at least one set of horns is a cowfish. Even the round, globular species of the temperate Australian waters are referred to as cowfish because of their diminutive horns.
Special features of interest about cowfish:
Rather than a skeleton, they have a body of exterior fused plates that form a box.
Their unique method of swimming, called ostraciform swimming, causes them to look as if they are hovering.
They have no pelvic skeleton, so they lack pelvic fins.
They have the ability to release ostracitoxin, a poison that can kill all tank inhabitants.