A TRIP TO BALTIMORE - BALTIMORE AQUARIUM - PART 3

The last of our photos from the aquarium.  It was such a fun place to roam around, and I hope we get back one day.  Some I have been able to identify, others not.

A close up of the explanation.

The following fish were in a display as you enter the aquarium.  They are Brook Trout, description nearby reads: "Salvelinus fontinalis.  Size 20 inches (50 cm) - Brook Trout require clean, cold streams in order to thrive.  In Maryland there are 100 streams that support native, self-supporting populations of Brook Trout."

There were other different fish in the tank but I only took note of these as they seemed first and up-front.  In fact, when I saw the photo below after I had gotten home, it amused me that because of the people in the reflection, the fish seemed to be following them.  This is straight out of the camera and hasn't been manipulated in any way.

A message ticker of interesting information at the beginning of our walk.

This wonderful reptile is a Frilled Lizard and was in the Australian exhibit area.  If you look here you will learn that it is "found in the humid woodlands of northern Australia and parts of southern New Guinea. They spend most of their time perched in trees, perfectly camouflaged, only venturing down to the floor in search of food."

I cropped and turned the above photo sideways, so that you could get a better look.  Humble opinion of mine and you may think me a little strange, it has such pretty eyes.

More pretty things to look at, undersea 'flowers'.  I don't have the name of these but they do remind me of desert plants.

I am happy I remembered to take a photo of the ID on the fish in the next three photos.  It is called a Ripsaw Catfish.  We were in the Amazonian River exhibit.

At this website I read that "it can be found throughout many of the major river systems of northern South America.  It has been recorded from Ecuador, Columbia, Venezuela, Guyana, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil."  

Scientific name is Oxydoras niger and he can grow to 36 inches (90 cm).

Here's another but I haven't identified this fascinating fish.

Or these.

Love these photos.

This one is of a Cownose Stingray.  Interesting facts can be found on this website.

This is a

 White-blotched River Stingray. 

A few facts I gleaned from their webpage is that it is a native to the Xingu River Basin in Brazil, which is a tributary to the Amazon River.  It has also been seen in the Curua and Iriri rivers. It lives mostly in rocky river bottoms where it finds most of its food.  More interesting facts can be found at the above link.

Not 100 percent positive (there were several turtles to try and identify, and I didn't get a good view on many of the markings) but this may be the Giant South American River Turtle. 

They rarely leave the water except to lay eggs.  It is one of the largest fresh water turtles in the world.

This is the Smooth-fronted caiman (Paleosuchus trigonatus).  They grow up to 8.5 feet (2.6m). "These alligator relatives breed in water and nest on land.  To help incubate their eggs they sometimes lay them near heat-generating termite mounds." 

A close-up of its head... 

and a lighter look at its body under the water.

This is the last post from the aquarium until we can get there again.  Thank you for all the kind comments you have left in all the others I have shared, and this one too.

A TRIP TO BALTIMORE - BALTIMORE AQUARIUM - PART 2

Here is a selection of the fish we saw that day. I don't have much information on them, but identify what I can.  Visually they were amazing, hard to capture that in photos. 

This is the Pecula Clownfish. If you see any red lettering in my posts, you will generally find a link to more information.  One of the bits of trivia I learned was that all clownfish are born male, and as they mature they usually pair off with another clownfish.  The dominant fish becomes a female.  The female lays eggs which are defended and aerated by both parents until they hatch.  Fascinating and more fascinating facts at the above link.

The completely yellow fish in the photo below are called Yellow Tang.  They feed on algae and according to what I read, they spend a large part of their day picking at rocks.  It is a very popular aquarium fish and they are imported in large numbers from Hawaii for this reason.

Getting away from the fish, this is a Diamondback Terrapin.  

There were times when the reflections got in the way, but I didn't have as much of a problem as I normally have.

The water was very clear, it just seemed to be gliding through air.

We are in the rainforest area now.  This bird is called the Screaming Piha.  It had the most amazingly loud call. After hearing it, it became clear why it got that name.

The closest I got to identifying this bird is the Masked Lapwing.  They looked like the ones I found here.

We saw them in the Australian exhibit.

This is the Sunbittern.  

I am finishing my post with a collage I made of animals and birds from a wall mural, and a couple of my photos from other areas.  I have two or three apps that I use on my iPad.  The next time I put one together, I will take notes and share those with you at a later time.  

I still have more photos from the exhibits we saw.  As soon as I can put another together I will share.

Lastly, thank you for taking the time to look at my posts.  I always appreciate those who have time to comment, but am happy for people who like to drop in also.

I hope you have all had a nice start to the week, and am wishing you a great week ahead.

MONDAY FOOD POST - PHILLIPS SEAFOOD RESTAURANT IN BALTIMORE, MARYLAND

Within a short walk of the aquarium, we ate lunch at a restaurant called Phillips Seafood.  There are several in other areas but this is the first time we have eaten in one.  It was in the building that I mentioned in my previous post, except that you are looking at the front of the building in the above photo.

This is an outside eating area that juts out over the water.  It is on the opposite side where the entrance to the actual restaurant is, and there is another outside eating area out front, as you can see in the photo below.  It was a beautiful day but we decided to eat inside.

You pass by the pretty wooden horse before you go through the doors.

There were striking replicas of old sailing ships.

Their sails reached almost to the ceiling.

I enjoyed the décor inside.

This big old crab hung near the bar.  It was huge!

The young lady who took our order was extremely friendly and answered my questions about items on the menu.  I was tempted to order the crab cakes, but we both ended up getting a lobster tail and lots of melted butter. It also came with a medley of diced vegetables.

We shared an appetizer that we asked to be served with our main meal.  It was a dish of shaved Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta and crumbled Blue Cheese, which was a delicious accompaniment.  We guessed that the Brussels Sprouts had been lightly sautéed in olive oil and there was a drizzle of raspberry vinaigrette over the top, again I am assuming that it had been thickened slightly with balsamic vinegar, but I would have to ask the chef to be sure.  Both meals were delicious!

You can read the menu at this link, and other parts of the menu can be reached by clicking on the items on the left hand side of the page. There is also steak, pork and chicken for the non seafood eaters.  As for the desserts they also looked delicious but we couldn't eat another bite.  

The Brussels Sprouts dish was a surprise to both of us.  We had never had them prepared this way before, and will try to replicate the recipe at home.

A great meal and a great restaurant.  We wouldn't have any hesitation recommending both.

We picked a parking lot just down the road, an easy walk to and from the inner harbor.  The last few photos were taken making our way back, all except the first two below.

The green track is for electric scooters or bikes you can hire.  We saw a few of the scooters, one chap going way too fast.  It surprised me as I wouldn't have thought they could go that speed.  It made me think they should have speed limits on the track, or maybe they do and I just didn't notice.

Gregg is walking by a docking station where you can place bikes and scooters.  You can also see one of those scooters at the end.

The photo above is the same Coast Guard ship I shared in my previous post.  You can see it better as by this time the sun wasn't as high.

The photo below is a cropped version of the one above, to get a better view of the reflected building.

This one.

And that's it for this post.  More aquarium photos will be shared tomorrow.