Not everyone has the privilege to think about the deep meaning of life in front of the kelp forest in Monterey Bay Aquarium. So if one day you come, you should try. There are many questions to be asked: Why sardines form bait balls? Why rockfish looks so lazy and doesn't move a lot? What keeps the giant kelp standing in the water that straight up?  If you sit there long enough until the noon (specifically, 12:30), someone will help you with all these questions at the Kelp Forest Feeding session. 

If you have other questions, however, you'll have to figure it out on your own. It does look like a good place to figure something out doesn't it? 

 Almost all aquariums I've been to have clown fish. There are so many types of them other than Nemo. 

I have a pair at my home too. The pair I have  is called "Gold Lightening Maroon", which I didn't see during my stay at Monterey Bay Aquarium. Having them for a year and half or so, I unavoidably learned a few fun facts about them, including  that "all clown fishes are born male, and they change to female as needed" and "male clown fishes are smaller compared to female ones".  I also noticed that their colors seem to fade away when lights are off, they will come back when lights are on again.  It's just a camouflage but freaked me out the  first time I saw it. 

Blood-belly comb jelly (left) is one of the comb jellies that are bioluminescent.  However, the light you see flowing there  in the photo is the product of diffraction. "The sparkling display on the outside comes from light diffracting and refracting off tiny transparent, hairlike cilia. These beat continuously, propelling the jelly through the water." Blood-belly comb jelly lives in deep ocean, and in deep ocean red color becomes simply invisible. 

With aquarium's lighting every jelly looks beautiful. In reality it might be a little bit complicated. Some jellies are quite poisonous. Too many of them -- called jellyfish bloom -- can also be a trouble. Plastic bags in nature can be mistaken by sea turtles as jellyfish and get accidentally swallowed. Not the best thing to happen in this world. 

The aquarium, for sure, has real sea otters -- sea otters that eat, swim, and rub their cheeks, sea otters that floated onto the surface when I was at first floor, and dived into the deep when I went up to the second floor.  I wish I could swim as well as they do, effortless and elegant, without worrying chocking on water. Every time people told me to relax in water, I became more nervous.  What are the otters thinking? Do they have troubles in their lives too?  

I learned a few fun facts about otters from @natualhabitashorts, like they use stones as tools, and "male otters occasionally hold pups for ransom under water to force the mother to give up her food". This specific sea otter plush, directly reminds me of the little otter named Kelvin in this post.