I love visiting aquariums. I always learn something – many things – on each visit.

I have visited dozens of aquariums in Japan and throughout the United States from coast to coast and various other locations around the world.

The closest aquarium to me is the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California that just opened its new exhibition: Jelly Dreamscapes.

The new, artfully-lit gallery is filled with hundreds of sea jellyfish from around the world. Various smacks (groups of these gelatinous creatures) are set amidst mediative lighting and dream-like soundscapes. o these remarkable gelatinous creatures.

Among the various species include the Asian Moon jellyfish, Barrel jellyfish, Blue Lion’s Mane jellyfish, Brownbanded Moon jellyfish, California Sea Gooseberry, Indonesian Sea Nettle, Marbled jellyfish, Pacific Sea Nettle, South American Sea Nettle, and Lagoon jellyfish.

I found the close-ups of the lion’s mane jellyfish to be most fascinating to observe. Lion’s mane is the largest known species of jellyfish, confined to cold waters of the Arctic Ocean, northern Atlantic Ocean, and northern Pacific Ocean.

There were other jellyfish whose bell was facing downwards and their tentacles floated upwards – yikes, I would hate to run into those creatures.

 @2019 Tom Bonner

Jellyfish photos credit to Robin Riggs, Josh Barber, and Brian Gray of the Aquarium of the Pacific (see here).

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