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As a NorCal native I’ve always been prone to thinking the Monterey Bay Aquarium is the best in the world, but now there’s evidence to prove it. This year the aquarium, which opened in 1984, was voted the best aquarium in the world in the TripAdvisor Reader’s Choice Awards.

10 Facts You Didn’t Know About Sea Life Before Visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium

On a recent visit I rediscovered the many reasons why this beloved aquarium is world-renowned and deepened by knowledge of the creatures of the ocean’s deep. How many of these ten facts did you know before visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium?

10 Facts You Didn’t Know About Sea Life Before Visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium

 

10 Facts You Didn’t Know About Sea Life Before Visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium

 

1. Not all mammals live on land

10 Facts You Didn’t Know About Sea Life Before Visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Stretching from San Francisco to south of San Simeon, Monterey Bay is part of a National Marine Sanctuary that stretches nearly 5,300 square miles. In additions to hundreds of species of sea life, more than 30 species of marine mammals call the bay home, including the sea otter and blue whale.

2. Sea anemones can jump

10 Facts You Didn’t Know About Sea Life Before Visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium

When threatened, the apple anemone can detach themselves from their base and jump, or swim away by thrashing its tentacles. The apple anemone is one of the largest anemones in the ocean and is colorful.

3. The stinging tentacles of jellies can reach up to 25 feet

10 Facts You Didn’t Know About Sea Life Before Visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium

The black sea nettle is a giant jelly that lives in deep calm waters off the southern coast of California and Mexico. It has pink arms and stinging tentacles than can reach up to 25 feet in length.

4. Bats can live under water

10 Facts You Didn’t Know About Sea Life Before Visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium

The bat star is a webbed sea star that lives in the kelp forest. They are just one of the many creatures visitors can come in contact with at the aquarium’s 40-foot-long touch pool.

5. Mahi Mahi has an alibi

10 Facts You Didn’t Know About Sea Life Before Visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Mahi Mahi is the Hawaiian, and restaurant name of the Dolphinfish. These sleek fish can swim up to 40 miles per hour and grow four feet in their first year of life.

6. Kelp plants grow an average of four inches a day

10 Facts You Didn’t Know About Sea Life Before Visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium

At 28 feet, the Kelp Forest here is one of the tallest aquarium exhibits in the world and requires underwater grooming by scuba divers on a weekly basis. It is home to leopard sharks, rockfish and red octopus.

7. Sea otters live in loose-knit groups called rafts

Unfortunately, when sea otter pups get separated from their groups it is near impossible for them to survive on their own. Thanks to rescue efforts, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has saved 501 otter pups since beginning a sea otter rescue program in 1984.

8. Sand dollars have fur

10 Facts You Didn’t Know About Sea Life Before Visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Live sand dollars are covered in cilia, or tiny hairs, that help them to catch any food that passes by in the water.

9. More than 2,500 Moon jellyfish have gone to outer space

10 Facts You Didn’t Know About Sea Life Before Visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium

The moon jellyfish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium may not travel so far as those aboard the space shuttle Columbia in 1991, but staff do take the baby moon jelly fish for daily walks.

10. It’s imperative to keep your clothing on around an octopus.

10 Facts You Didn’t Know About Sea Life Before Visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Yea… these guys aren’t such big fans of nudity.

Note: San Francisco Travel provided me with complimentary admission to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Comments:

  • October 13, 2014

    I LOVED the Monterey Aquarium when I visited there last summer! I had such a good time and it was such a special moment in my life, this post really made my day!
    My favorite parts were the otters and the turtles! There’s so many great exhibits there I would recommend it to anyone! I’m actually working on a “Five Things to Do in Monterey” for my own blog!
    I too took a picture of the “Don’t Flash the Octopus” sign haha, my boyfriend at the time (who was stationed out there) saw my pictures and thought it was hilarious I took a picture of it.
    Loved reading this post and love your blog!

  • October 15, 2014

    How have I not been here yet?! I love aquariums. Thanks for sharing!

    Happy travels 🙂

  • A"fish"ionado

    August 2, 2015

    I have never seen that octopus sign…priceless!!! Haha!

    And I, too, am convinced that Monterey is the best aquarium in the world. More proof of the Aquarium’s awesomeness: they hold the record for keeping a great white in captivity. They kept a juvenile female for 198 days in 2005. (I went to see her-don’t remember it at all, but I’m sure it was awesome. Duh-nuh…)

    But, sharks aside, I had no idea that they walk the jellyfish! That would be quite the sight for the unsuspecting tourist-an employee walking around with a cylinder full of floating clear things…;) See? Somebody who’s been going since they were three learned a thing or two from this post!

    And I will NEVER remove my clothing in front of an octopus. 😉

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