As Promised

There's nothing quite like an aquarium with dramatic lighting for capturing phyla-without-faces. These were taken at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon, while waiting for my step-cousin (?) to give a whale talk as part of her current internship. Unfortunately, we missed the whale talk, but we did get a behind-the-scenes tour complete with a sneak peak at Pearl, the new octopus currently in quarantine and hidden from visitors. Don't worry, you can watch Pearl in her isolation tank from home on the "octocam." The former octupant was Ursula, who was released from... a cooler on December 23rd. Pearl was so named because she was acquired by the center on December 7th, on the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

But enough about things with lots of legs, here are some photos of things with lots of... things:

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