There has always been something serene and innocent about the ocean. Its mysteries and secrets buried in folds of water, pushing us to go deeper. Deep inside, I’m one of those people who actually think “the ocean scares me”. The idea that there are still millions of many different things we don’t know about; things that lie beneath the façade of an innocent and calm surface. Although I would be one to snorkel and look at colorful fishes as much as the next guy, if a seaweed brushes off of me and I didn’t know it was seaweed, I would probably panic and freeze my whole body; thus drowning me and leading to my inevitable death. Death by seaweed. Yup. It’s seaweeds that I’m afraid of, not man-eating sharks.

Anyway, this is why aquariums are great man-made wonders. You get to mingle with the sea’s scaly creatures while being stable in your earthly element. No heat from harmful sun UV light, no uncertainties, and most definitely, no deadly seaweeds. Perhaps the only thing that I don’t like with big scale aquariums is that you don’t get to touch the fishes like you could with goats at petting zoos. There was an area where you could touch star fishes though, which surprisingly felt like an over bloated man fingers that have been soaked in sea water for quite some time. All the while I was touching one of its fingers, I thought “So this is what Patrick Star feels like”; I always thought he’d be smoother.

I’ve never been to an aquarium before, so it was a first for me. There was a tunnel aquarium that had sharks and some other fishes in it. Being in it feels surreal. To be surrounded by schools of fishes and water, it feels like a totally different space. And it doesn’t end there! There’s also a section showcasing a 2-floor glass panel fronting its biggest aquarium. It houses all these big grouper fishes, sword fish, some sharks, and manta rays. To be honest, I wasn’t really sure if they are manta rays or if they are sting rays, I couldn’t tell the difference. I don’t wanna be ray-cist. Ha-Ha-Ha. Anyway. Seeing the fishes glide through the water makes you really wonder if fishes view birds the same way. Manta rays flap their “wings” (I’m not sure what their called; arms maybe?) in the same manner as birds do. Simply amazing.

Oh! I did see something there that I haven’t seen before, not even in TV: Sea dragons. I’ve heard of sea horses before but I never thought there were dragons as well. They looked like sea horses but with weird yellow-green, almost translucent, seaweed-ish hair on their body. If you can get an idea what I'm talking about, good for you. If you don't, you should go google it.

Though that wasn't really my favorite part of the whole thing (sorry sea dragons). What really captured my heart were these glowing jellyfishes that emanated a red, almost hot crimson, light. I took a picture beside it, the only picture I did take  (because it’s hard to take photos in a dark aquarium with a phone camera). I love how its red glow contrasts with the deep blue hue of the water. At first I thought it was just the aquarium’s lighting, but it’s not. These jellyfishes emits the light from its body! If I would be a fish in my next life, please make me this jellyfish. I promise to use my powers of crimson glow-y light for good.

 

If you’re wondering if I found Nemo, I did. Dory too. Maybe I should write to Pixar soon since they’re eagerly looking for her. If you’re in Singapore, sea them *pun intended* at S.E.A. Aquarium, Sentosa before they hit the big screen!

Note to self: I should stop it with the fish-puns soon.

Talk to you next time!

it’sJACLYN