Albuquerque BioPark: Aquarium I

I'm sure we have mentioned before that we are proud members of the New Mexico Biopark Society. This membership allows us to indulge in regular visits to the city's zoo, botanical garden, and aquarium free of charge. We like to take advantage of those visits to instill in our son the same love and awe of nature that has defined us.

While most people think of the Biopark as a summertime activity, our fairly mild winters allow us to enjoy it year round. But on particularly cold days, it's nice that the Aquarium is a mostly-indoor activity.

We were expecting a chill today, so we headed to the aquarium to get our fix. Luckily we were blessed with beautiful weather and were able to enjoy the adjacent botanical gardens as well, which I will share our photos in due time.

But for now, I wanted to share the snapshots I got of the lovely aquarium.

I've always been entranced by the slow moving splendor of jellyfish. The Moon Jellies above are my favorite part of the aquarium.

There is a large open water tank, that features a variety of rays and puffer fish. Occasionally the stingrays emerge from the water and return with a large splash.

The puffer fish don't really seem to mind their larger tank companions.

This giant clam was unbelievably huge.

Of course I was too enchanted with the whole Aquarium to really get enough pictures. What I don't have pictures of are the outstanding coral reef tanks and shark tanks that they have constantly on display. They have amazing tanks that act as facsimile for both Atlantic and Pacific reefs, and a hallway that showcases eels and their habitats that goes from the floor, across the ceiling.