Fish and Much More!

…continuing with the recent visit by Laurie’s sister Bonnie, her husband Bill and their granddaughter Avery.

When you have an 11 year old visiting, it isn’t just about a bunch of old folks sitting around chatting, shopping, having a drink or going out to eat.  Consequently, we all headed down to Chattanooga to visit an attraction that Laurie and I hadn’t visited in many, many years…long before we’d retired to East Tennessee.

This is the Tennessee Aquarium…or at least half of it!  This is the River Journey facility.  The 130,000 sq. ft. structure is about 12-stories tall and it contains about 400,000 gallons of water in its aquarium tanks.  When it opened in 1992, it was the largest freshwater aquarium in the world.

The primary theme of this river based aquarium is the Story of the River…following the flow of water from high in the Appalachian Mountains all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.  About a third of the building is focused on smaller exhibits hosting organisms from river systems in and around the world.

We arrived just in time for the Aquarium’s staff to feed the River Otters.  After this young lady told us what to expect, she joined other staff members in the placement of food and treats around the otter display area. 

I quickly learned that otters are about as restless and active as a 2 year old child!  These were the best of my many attempts to photograph the otters as they sought out their food.  Fish was buried in piles of ice, frozen in fish popsicles, put under rocks, etc.  The otters were a flurry of motion!

The otters live in the Appalachian Cove Forest, which features a 30,000 gallon tank, a waterfall, free-flying North American songbirds and a plethora of fish that live in this type of ecological environment.

Otters are very appealing…and Avery was enthralled as she watched these cute critters in action.

 

The North American River Otter is a semiaquatic mammal that is found in much of North America in and along waterways and coasts.  An adult otter can weigh between 11 and 30 lbs.  They are protected and insulated by a thick, water-repellent coat of fur.  Although fish is the food of choice, otters will eat anything they can catch…ranging from mussels and crayfish to ducks, reptiles and aquatic insects.

These beautiful trout were just a part of the River Journey exhibits.  Bass, catfish, paddlefish, gar, sturgeon, freshwater drum, stripers, and many, many more fish are on view in the 145,000 gallon Nickajack Lake (Tennessee River) aquarium.  My fish photos are limited as taking photos of moving fish through thick glass in questionable light is a bit of a challenge.

Of course, it isn’t all about fish and riverine mammals.  Of note was this blue frog…actually a Blue Poison Dart Frog.  It’s found in forests near water in southern Suriname and far northern Brazil.  Its poison can kill predators and the blue color is a warning to stay away.  They lose their poisonous capability in captivity due to a change in their diet.   

There was a freshwater touch tank in the River Journey that caught Avery’s attention.  Freshwater rays and sturgeon were there for those who wanted to see what they felt like.

Laurie took this photo of a grouping of small alligators.  They live in Delta Country, an exhibit showing species from the Mississippi River delta.  These cuddly little alligators can grow up to be as large as 15 ft. long and can weigh up to almost 1,000 lbs.  Alligators can be found along the US coastline and inland along rivers from Virginia to Texas and the Mexican border.  There have even been verified sightings as far north as western Tennessee.

I tried but couldn’t get a presentable photo of an alligator snapping turtle.  In its place, this is a Florida Softshell Turtle.  These fast swimming turtles mainly eat fish, insects, crustaceans, frogs and mollusks.  A large female Florida Softshell Turtle can measure 30” in length…3 to 5 times bigger than the males of the species.  Despite the name, these turtles are also found in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Texas.   

It figured that one of the few North American fish on exhibit that I got a decent photo of was this Carp.  This fish is just one species of carp, a wide spread and varied category of oily freshwater fish originally native to Europe and Asia. 

This particular fish appears to be a grass carp.  They can weigh up to 45 lbs. and live for over 20 years.  

Laurie and I used to fish for carp in the Des Plaines River in Des Plaines Illinois.  They were a lot of fun to catch.  On the other hand, the big carp in Tellico Lake have done nothing except break my line and/or gear.  Catching them is like catching a submarine in motion!

This appears to be one of our favorite fish to catch and eat...a Northern Pike, but I can't tell from this photo.  Laurie holds the family record for a Northern at 42"!  If its a muskie, they're really fun to catch but we've never eaten one.

Another exhibit is entitled River Giants.  It displays giant freshwater fish from around the world.  These species include alligator gar, giant pangasius, redtail catfish and giant freshwater stingrays.  This particular fish is an Arapaima.

Arapaima live in the Amazon River Basin.  They are among the world’s largest freshwater fish.  The longest one ever recorded was 15 feet long and the heaviest weighed in at 440 lbs.’!  These fish have been known to eat small land animals walking near the shore.  The Arapaima is an air breather, a real advantage in the oxygen deprived water that is often found in the Amazon River basin…especially in the dry season.

Then there are a multitude of colorful and interesting other little fish on exhibit. (Note the turtle) In the Rivers of the World display area, there are several aquariums that show off many of the varied species from the Amazon River, the Congo River, Fly River (Papua New Guinea) and others.  

I didn’t record the species of this colorful and strange looking frog.  There are so many frog and toad species in the world there is no way I can be certain which one this might be.  It does closely resemble the Vietnamese Mossy Frog.

You can check out my possible identification at https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/vietnamese-mossy-frog.

This Electric Eel was also on display in the Rivers of the World exhibit.  This South American electric fish is the only species in its genus.  It’s not really an eel but rather a knifefish.  They can grow to be about 6 ft. 7 in. in length and can weigh up to 44 lbs.  With some 5,000 to 6,000 stacked electroplaques, they can create an electrical shock up to 600 volts and 1 ampere of current…much like a stun gun discharge.

 

Chattanooga’s Electric Eel is named Miquel Wattson.  He has his own twitter account. (Miquel Watson TNAQ@EelectricMiquel) Miquel’s exhibit is wired to a small computer that sends out a prewritten tweet when he emits electricity at a high enough threshold. 

I’d rather see live tortoises but I have to admit that the various tortoise shells on exhibit are quite beautiful.  The carapace on the left is from a Radiated Tortoise and the one on the right is from a Leopard Tortoise. 

Radiated Tortoises are from Madagascar and their carapace can reach 16” and they can weigh up to 35 lbs.  In their northern range in Africa, Leopard Tortoises can have a carapace measuring 28” and they can reach a weight of 88 lbs.  What a difference the environment makes!  

This exhibit included a couple of live Indian Star Tortoises.  It’s easy to see where their name came from… These tortoises are not only found in India, but also in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. 

These tortoises aren’t large in comparison to others.  Typically females grow to 8” and males to 6” although in parts of their range, the ladies can reach 15” and the males 9”.  This is a vulnerable species of tortoise as they are very popular in the exotic pet trade. 

Of course, having Salamanders on display in a Tennessee focused display of local fauna shouldn’t be a surprise.  The Great Smoky Mountains are known as the “Salamander Capital of the World”!  These mountains are a major center of evolutionary diversity for lungless salamanders.  There are no less than 24 different species in the park.  

This type of Salamander breathes through the walls of tiny blood vessels in their skin and in the linings of their mouths and throats.  They can be found in and along streams, under rocks and logs and among the leaf litter in the forests. 

In the next edition about our visit to the Tennessee Aquarium we will move to the seas and salt water…and view some other earth bound diverse creatures as well.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave