Guadalajara 2019 - The Aquarium - Fish, Amphibians, Otters and Parakeets

The aquarium is small but has a nice collection and several rather innovative exhibits. First up is a Pearse's Mudskipper, an odd little creature that can breath on land because it has gills that can store water. Some tiny amphibians in this area can be difficult to spot due to the heavy vegetation in the cases. They are, after all, camouflaged in nature to keep them from becoming someones lunch. And while on the subject of lunch, there is the Red Striped Eartheater, which absorbs soil and sediment in it's mouth in search of small crustaceans and invertebrates.

I marveled at the extraordinary colors of some of the fish on display and the way schools of them assume almost sculptural forms. I stop to offer, using hand gestures, to photograph a young couple together in front of a large boa constrictor as it twisted it's body around a branch in it's enclosure.

There are interactive exhibits where visitors can reach into pools and feel fish. I choose not to do so. In an outdoor area where a small park is separated from the aquarium grounds by a fence sits off to one side, scores of small children in their school uniforms watched with glee as otters swam playfully in a large 4 sided exhibit which allowed them to view the animals on land and in the water. In this area is also an aviary where a flock of colorful parakeets land on the visitors heads and shoulders. I attracted a particularly tenacious one. The little yellow creature seemed as if it would be perfectly content to stay on my shoulder all afternoon. After taking a selfie with it I had to negotiate a number of awkward twists and turns in an effort to get it to leave its perch.

Back inside a tank spans one wall and curves above the visitor's head creating a tunnel of fish. The bottom of a shark was visible as it rested on the ceiling, or, from it's perspective, floor, of the exhibit. From on upper gallery I watched Manta Rays as they swirled gracefully, occasionally rising to the surface and flapping their winglike fins, splashing the giggling children that surrounded the pool before heading back outside and summoning an UBER.