"They are a unique species; individuals develop differently depending on their environment. While all O. mykiss hatch in gravel-bottomed, fast-flowing, well-oxygenated rivers and streams, some stay in fresh water all their lives. These fish are called rainbow trout. The steelhead that migrate to the ocean develop a slimmer profile, become more silvery in color, and typically grow much larger than the rainbow trout that remain in fresh water. . . . Unlike other Pacific salmonids, they can spawn more than one time (called iteroparity)."--NOAA Fisheries
Monterey Bay Aquarium,
Monterey, CA
Tags: steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss steelhead trout salmonid salmon
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Monterey Bay Aquarium
Tags: Monterey Bay Aquarium Orthasterias koehleri Orthasterias Rainbow Star seastar intertidal tidepool
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Monterey Bay Aquarium
Tags: Leather Star Dermasterias imbricata Dermasterias Seastar intertidal tidepool
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Oregon Coast Aquarium,
Newport, Oregon
Identified only to family, Diodontidae. "Porcupinefish . . . are found in shallow temperate and tropical seas worldwide. . . . [They] have the ability to inflate their bodies by swallowing water or air, thereby becoming rounder. This increase in size (almost double vertically) reduces the range of potential predators to those with much bigger mouths. A second defense mechanism is provided by the sharp spines, which radiate outwards when the fish is inflated."--Wikipedia
A further explanation:
"Its stomach, which in the course of evolution has come to be used for nothing else (food is not digested there but is instead passed right into the intestine), is folded in pleats when the fish isn't puffed up. In fact, there are pleats within pleats within pleats--all the way down to pleats that can only be seen with a microscope.
When the fish perceives danger, it pumps in water, the stomach unfolds, the skin expands, and the scales--which usually lie backward against the skin--spring up as spines. As well as dispensing with the normal function of its stomach, the puffer fish has lost most of its skeleton. . ."--Extreme Nature, The Weirdest Animals and Plants on the Planet, Mark Carwardine, 2005
Tags: Porcupinefish Blowfish Balloonfish Globefish pufferfish Diodontidae
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Fratercula corniculata,
Oregon Coast Aquarium,
Newport, Oregon
I assume this is a mated pair.
Tags: Fratercula corniculata horned puffin puffin pair puffin puffin behavior
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