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Hello everyone!

I went to the Blue Planet Aquarium last Saturday, but I've only just uploaded the pics for everyone to take a peek at. Before I proceed, here's the obligatory ...

WARNING - IMAGE FILE SIZES LARGE BOTH IN TERMS OF PIXEL DIMENSIONS AND STORAGE REQUIREMENTS - 56K HEAVY

And, with that out of the way, on to the pics!

Shot of fossil Megalodon jaws with a friend of mine standing next to them

Russian Sturgeon, Acipenser gueldenstaedtii, in coldwater aquarium

Big Red Eared Terrapins, Trachemys scripta elegans, in swimming pool sized aquarium - these specimens possessed shells bigger than dinner plates and were around 10-15 lbs in weight each!

Archer Fishes, Toxotes jaculator, in aquarium with Monodactylus argenteus and scatophagus argus - note that there were also several Monodactylus sebae in the same aquarium, but they didn't appear in this shot

Four Eyed Fish, Anableps anableps, in shallow aquarium (sadly the Mudskippers sharing the aquarium didn't pose for the camera)

Large green Basilisk lizard (taxonomic identity unknown to me) from Amazon - if anyone can identify this lizard, I'd appreciate it!

Head of Electric Eel, Electrophorus electricus, one of two specimens sharing the same aquarium - this specimen was around 3 feet long!

Leaf mimicking Katydids from Amazon, again taxonomic ID unknown to me

Blue Arrow Poison Frogs, Dendrobates azureus, in vivarium

cute multicoloured tree frogs, identity unknown

Basketball sized Dog Faced Pufferfish, Arothron hispidus, from huge 20,000 gallon coral reef aquarium

Common Unicorn Fish, Naso brevirostris, with unidentified Grouper sitting on coral beneath it from same aquarium as Puffer Fish

Coldwater skate species, taxonomic identity unknown to me - if someone can identify this for me, again I'd appreciate it!

Tiger Shovelnose Catfish, Brachplatystoma filamentosum in 20,000 gallon Amazonian aquarium, which it shared with several huge Black Pacus, Colossoma nigripinne, each 2 feet long, a Redtailed Catfish, Phrcatocephalus hemioloipterus (that fish alone was 4 feet long!) and a couple of other Big Pims I couldn't identify;

Feeding time for the European Otters in one of the outdoor enclosures

Canadian Otter in one of the outdoor enclosures

Frogfish tentatively identified as Antennarius hispidus from one of the reef aquaria

Princess Of Burundi Cichlids, Lamprologus brichardi, sharing their aquarium with Congo Tetras and some Astatotilapia species;

Peckoltia catfish (someone ID this please?) sharing its aquarium with some Anostomus anostomus and a brace of Amazonian Tetras including Columbian Red Blues;

Tomato Frog (could someone ID this please?

HUGE picture window for the giant 2 million litre sea aquarium containing no less than TEN Sand Tiger Sharks!

Divers in the 2 million litre sea aquarium waving at all the kids sitting near the picture window

That 2 million litre (440,000 UK gallons!) aquarium has another 1.5 million litres of sea water sloshing around in the filtration system, which includes industrial sized particle filters that are big enough for 10 people to sit inside (!), and protein skimmers that wouldn't look out of place in a chemical plant, let alone alongside an aquarium ... you know you're looking at something special when you see fully grown Gnathanodon speciosus and Caranx melampygus Jacks swimming around in the aquarium, and the smallest fish in there is a fully grown Pomacanthus paru Angelfish that looks as if it could feed a family of four!

There are, as I said above, ten Sand Tiger sharks in there, and big ones too, and there are also some whopping stingrays, one of which was almost big enough to qualify as a hang glider!

There was also a Rift Lake aquarium to die for - it was big enough for someone to dive in and swim with the fishes! Ever seen over 500 Mbuna together in an aquarium? There must have been 40 Metriaclima zebra in there, big chunky ones, and several big Nimbochromis venustus, along with the biggest Cyrtocara moorii I've ever seen. Sadly, my camera batteries ran out before I could photograph this and the gorgeous reef aquarium with an absolutely resplendent specimen of the Majestic Angelfish, Euxiphipops navarchus, swimming alongside lots of Clownfishes. So, having learned from this experience, I've bought some more batteries (my camera takes proprietary ones - sigh) and next time I go, I'll have enough batteries to last the pace.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Frogfish? Its a leaf scorpion fish, Taenianotus triacanthus.
Im off to chester zoo on friday..

nice photos I'm afraid I can't much help you with the identification of the different fish and lizards but that does look like a Frogfish to me. They're just about the coolest saltwater fish. On a different site someone had posted some videos of one where you could see how it uses the pectoral fins like little hands to move around.

The TSN is a Pseudoplatystoma tigrinum (or possibly P. fasciatum). Brachyplatystoma filamentosum doesn't have stripes.

The Peckoltia looks similar to Peckoltia sabaji, but I'm not 100% on that ID either.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Corrections duly noted Shini, thanks.

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

what about me????

Only illustrations of Taeniotus triacanthus in my Burgess' Mini-Atlas are all white, Mez, which is why I initially discounted it. On closer inspection, however, it does bear close morphological similarity. Are they variable in colour?

I initially based my tentative identification of Antennarius hispidus on the basis that it was the only fish with approximately similar morphology that also shared the same colouration.

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Tomato Frog, (Dyscophus antongilli) according to www.zoo.org. The spotted tree frog appears to be Dendrobates pumilio, but it's hard to tell from glancing at the front only. The striped one is Phantasmal Poison Frog (Epipedobates tricolor). That frog was found on www.aalas.org.

All of them are poison darts.

Thanks for easing homework in a photo display!



TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

Cali, T. triacanthus is fairly variable in color; the fish pictured is well within the color range. It is fairly distinct and Mez is correct on the ID.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.