Masters of Disguise

We just opened a new salt water exhibit at work called Masters of Disguise. It's about how animals blend into their world using camouflage and mimicry. Big project...almost done. For those of you that don't work in the zoo/aquarium/museum world...signage is something that never ever seems to be done...pictures, text, positions, edits...what are we going to hang them with? Is there enough light? Ai. Luckily we have a rockstar team and as I'm leaving in a few days to either a) wait for baby to arrive or b) have and chill with baby....someone else is taking over the last few odds and ends. Ryan took some pictures when he visited the exhibit the other day. One of the perks of being married to the aquarium education director is frequent access to a number of animals. Some of whom recognize him now and will dance, talk or sing upon seeing him. Ryan, our staff and any small blond child all see to be favorites of several of our bird friends (none of whom are pictured here).

Welcome!

Here are a few of my favorites from the new exhibit:

Warty Frogfish - this guy is supposed to look like the sponges he lives nearby. He can "walk" around on his little funny feet. Other awesome trick - he uses a built in fishing rod attached to his forehead to lure prey into his huge mouth. Watch out for this guy if you are less than 3 inches long and live on a coral reef.

Well hello there. This is a chameleon. I can't remember exactly which kind. He's very cute and well poised to teach people about chromatophores, opposable thumbs (that's all he's got) and moving your eyes in two directions at once.

Decorator crabs. Can you find them? There are two in this picture. They stick stuff from their habitat all over their body...no one would ever suspect that that seaweed and group of anenomes is anything but just that. Totally worth googling images of these guys to see how nuts their collections can get. Really. I'm not kidding. Google it.

And if you're in Duluth this summer stop by and check out the other residents of this exhibit. Bugs that look like twigs, frogs that look like leaves, sharks, cuttlefish and lots of pretty fish.