On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Captain C
We continue at the Osaka Aquarium. The first five of these photos are from the big main tank, the rest from various exhibits towards the end of the trail.
One of several whale sharks in the tank.
A playful ray.
Manta rays, approaching like graceful Cylon Raiders.
One of several hammerheads. I can’t get enough of these wonderfully weird-looking sharks.
This fellow was either sketched out by Yours Truly, or trying to warn me about the diver in the background.
Watching this giant spider crab walk around was fascinating.
After the museum path leaves the giant main tank, it takes you through a roomful of jellyfish/sea jelly exhibits, including this hall of mirrors.
This was from the exhibit about the Aquarium’s Arctic expedition.
Dan B
Huge fish in the main tank, Wow! And your photos are excellent
I went skinny dipping in Costa Rica one night. Later heard the Hammerheads come to the surface near shore at night. Didn’t do that again. Apparently the crocs were busy at night.
eclare
Love the jellyfish.
sab
Sharks are very weird.
Scuffletuffle
How big is the tank? I always thought whale sharks were too big?
JanieM
Nice that they all posed so cooperatively. ;-)
But srsly, great pics, and entertaining captions.
There’s another odd-looking critter in the lower left of the hammerhead picture. Undersea must be a wonderland (wondersea?) of strangeness. Then again, they probably think we’re the strange ones.
J R in WV
BIG Tank!!!
Love the rays, have always thought they are the slinkiest, most graceful creatures on earth. Saw lots of them around Key West’s reefs as a youth in the USN. One that jumped just in front of our little 17′ boat seemed to be as big as the f’in boat!
Sharks never bothered us when diving/snorkling swimming, it was the barracudas that were scary and unpredictable in the Keys. Way more ‘cuda than sharks, for one thing, and they had a reputation as scary bad actors.
A friend took visitors from WV out up in the middle keys, and one didn’t follow safety guidelines, probably panicked, wound up evacuated by a Coast Guard helicopter after a serious attack by a ‘cuda.
J R in WV
@JanieM:
Looks like probably another manta ray to me. So sleek!
pat
God really got busy when he started creating things in the water. Must have been fun. //
J R in WV
@pat:
Very creative!
I would really like to see Sea Horses, and the colorific sea slugs called nudibranchs — they’re really varied and beautiful.
ETA: also a wide variety of octopii which also come in a wide variety of sizes and colors.
StringOnAStick
If you love to see creatures from the ocean, watch the documentary “My Octopus Teacher” ; we watched it on Amazon prime and I was so moved by the beauty and the story. There were times that the underwater world seems to be a completely different planet.
Captain C
Thanks for the kind words, y’all.
@Scuffletuffle: As per Wikipedia, the largest tank is 30 feet deep and holds 5400 cubic meters of water. I was kind of surprised, too, but the whale sharks seemed to fit just fine.
Captain C
@StringOnAStick: Thanks for the tip!