Comparing Steinhart Aquarium And The Monterey Bay Aquarium

The Steinhart aquarium and the Monterey Bay Aquarium had very different approaches in presenting marine life to the public. The Steinhart aquarium often had open aquariums where visitors had to look down to see the marine life, while the Monterey Bay Aquarium more notably has large closed tanks in a dimly lit setting. I think the Steinhart aquarium seen at the California Academy of Sciences shows marine life as more apart of humanity because there is a lack of separation between the marine life and humans. While in comparison in the Monterey Bay Aquarium there was a clear separation between us, the humans, and them, the wild life. In a sense I like Monterey Bay aquarium’s presentation more because I enjoy the more quiet and dimly lit appreciation of marine biodiversity, rather than an open view present in which I think that some marine life may be put under unnecessary stress with the background noise and at risk to potential instances of unsupervised interactions with humans. I think the Monterey Bay Aquarium is more representative of the local marine life while in comparison the Steinhart Aquarium gave a global perspective of marine diversity. …show more content…
The Steinhart Aquarium also placed tanks of marine life much differently than in the Monterey Bay Aquarium, because they often put things below eye level. I think this is good for the viewing perspective of children, but even myself standing at around five feet had to hunch over once in a while to view specimens. Both Aquariums had an area to touch area to touch certain sea stars, and thankfully both were supervised by Aquarium staff to ensure the safety of the specimens. The descriptions of the specimens within the Aquariums were both easily understandable for the general public. However, the Steinhart Aquarium provided in depth and descriptive information for certain specimens in the aquarium. The specimens at the Monterey Bay Aquarium are more local and less surprising for the public, while in comparison the Steinhart Aquarium had more specimens that were considered interesting and unique by the general public. I enjoyed seeing the global perspective of marine diversity because in some ways it did directly relate to some of our curriculum. I remember seeing a small tank with a few African Lungfish, and related it back to the lesson about diversity of fishes. Although I am not well informed about how much space certain fishes need it did seem that the lungfish were in a tank that was to accommodate for their body size, and for the number of lungfish within the tank. Small tanks were also a running theme within the aquarium and just throughout majority of the exhibits, and I think this is partially due the sheer number of marine life species presented throughout the aquarium. The Steinhart Aquarium varied between small, medium, and large sized tanks featuring different specimens. While in comparison the Monterey Bay Aquarium had …show more content…
In both Aquariums I saw similar species of seastars, and sea jellies. I saw a larger diversity of jellies at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, while I saw a larger diversity of bony fishes at the Steinhart Aquarium. I was sad that I did not see many cephalopods and cnidaria in San Francisco, because there was a small amount of jellies in the actual aquarium, but many of the larger cephalopods present were often too well camouflaged to their