A visit to Galway Atlantaquaria.

I had occasion to go to Galway yesterday and decided to pop in to the Aquarium (Atlantaquaria).
I have visited it before, but was unprepared for the amount of new exhibits there! It really is a nice place to visit.
I was fortunate with the timing of my visit as many of the Fish were about to be fed – this helped the picture-taking in no small amount, Fish like the Conger Eeels came out of their hidey-holes to get a share of the grub.

I took quite a lot of pictures whilst there and here are some of the ‘less-bad’ ones, please bear in mind these images are to serve as an illustration of what you’re likely to see if you make the (highly recommended) visit to there.

1 – Edible crab, not sure about the other.



2 – I think this was a Crawfish…



3 – Baby Dogfish, hatched onsite.



4 – White Skate – seemingly these were once very common, but commercial deep netting practices have all but wiped them out, off the West of Ireland is one of the very few places they still survive.



5 – White Skate again.



6 - and again.



7 – Native Pipefish, they obviously have a more accurate name than this, but I missed that.



8 – Tropical Shrimp – sorry, I’m not able to say the species, but anyone visiting any Dublin shop stocking Marines will know what it is…



9 – Tropical Marine Cardinal – similar comments apply.



10 – Tropical again – Anemone and Clownfish (Nemos – these received a fair bit of attention thanks to Pixar and I had to queue politely to await my turn to get a snapshot.



11 – More Anemones.



12 – Seahorse (departing)(rapidly).



13 – Grey Mullet.



14 – Camouflaged Flatfish (uncertain which one though).



15 – Hermit Crab.



16 – Not sure (again) about this one, think it’s a species of Wrasse, but a handsome fish.



17 – Lobster, looking quite threatening.



18 – Young Bass.



19 – Same Young Bass.



20 – Native Triggerfish – this one was quite ‘secretive’ and wouldn’t come right out into the open – hence the poor (even poorer) snapshot. It’s very interesting that – apart from the colouration it’s almost identical to many of the tropical ones – well, I thought it was interesting.



21 – Another view of the White Skate after being fed – the morsels of dead fish were lowered down to her then she covered them with her ‘wings’ to keep everything else away and so she could eat them uninterrupted.



22 – Pollack, in the same tank.



23 – Pollack (again).



24 – Even more Pollack.



25 – Conger Eels - dinnertime!



26 – Congers (again).



27 – I was quite taken by the Native Rays, but obviously not enough to remember their names!).



28 – Native Anemones (I think).



29 – I’m sure I remember this was an Undulate Ray.



30 – Ditto.



31 – Ditto.



32 – (yet another) Ditto.



33 – Bass – these were quite speedy fish and proved difficult to catch with the camera.



34 – Bass again.



35 – Native Starfish.



36 – Another Ray – possibly another Undulate?



37 – Another attempt at getting Bass in focus.



38 – and another



39 – and another



And, for the freshwater people here are one or two Carp and one final look into the tank containing the Char:









I apologise for posting this many pictures, but I got 'kind of' carried away. Sorry too that they aren't in any sort of order, but you'll get the gist of it as you scroll through them.

I would heartily recommend a visit 'out West', it's a real entertaining establishment - plus you get the opportunity to pop in to see Crusty for a chat.

John

paulv wrote:

Well done john you just sorted out the next 10 months photo comps for yourself

The next Competition's theme is going to insist that all entries are taken there - maybe I'll be in with a chance of getting a few votes!

John

I'll give it a go, but the lad who was feeding the fish may have told me all the names, but I mightn't have 'taken them all in' - the old brain isn't quite as retentive as it once was...

John

irish-zx10r wrote:

Did you know all the names of the fish or did u have some help great to see the names with the fish
Thanks for posting them all .

James

I did know most of the Native Marines' names, but was helped a bit with some of the others by the lad who was feeding them during the course of my visit.

A memorable afternoon indeed.

John

Tomi wrote:

Good place to spend couple of Sunday hours all right.
The fish from photo No. 16 is nothing like wrass family .
I'ts juvenile Helicolenus dactylopterus- bluemouth.

Thanks for the correction Tomi, much obliged.

John