Hello Friends and Family,
Link to this year's index by clicking here.
Oregon or Bust, Part 7 |
On our last day on the coast, Steve, Johnny and I decided to visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport. What a delightful place to spend a few hours looking at living exhibits of anemones (shown here), sea urchins, crabs, fish, sea birds and aquatic mammals! In fact, the Packers love it so much they are charter members. I probably would be too if I lived nearby. |
By the way, sea urchins are the source of a popular item at Japanese sushi bars. Uni, as it is called, is made from the gonads (which produce the milt and roe). According to one writer online, "raw uni has a fresh ocean taste — briny and slightly minerally but not salty or 'fishy'. The flavor is mildly nutty with a slight sweetness similar to
raw scallops. The texture is smooth, wet and custard-like." I confess that I have tried it and it is not for me even though I enjoy many types of sushi. |
Photographer's note: the dark tanks made it difficult to get really sharp photos — even with a tripod, their motion can still produce a blur. White balance and reflections also create challenges. |
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The common murre is a pursuit-diver that forages for food by swimming underwater using its wings for propulsion. Dives usually last less than one minute, but the bird swims underwater for distances of over 30 m (98 ft) on a regular basis. Diving depths up to 180 m (590 ft) have been recorded and birds can remain underwater a couple of minutes. They mainly eat small schooling forage fish 200 mm (7.9 in) long or less, such as polar cod, capelin, sand lances, sprats, sandeels, Atlantic cod and Atlantic herring. |
They dive for food from the surface, swimming underwater, feeding on benthic (bottom dwelling) prey, which is usually obtained close to shore. They mainly eat fish and other aquatic animals, particularly sculpins, sandfish (Trichodon), cod, capelin, and crabs.
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After a couple hours of touring the aquarium, Johnny wanted to visit the gift shop, hoping to purchase some shells for his collection. Interestingly, the aquarium has a policy of not selling items derived from sea creatures. But the salesperson was helpful and suggested a shop just a quarter mile from the aquarium. We found it easily because of the pirate standing outside. Johnny found some shells he liked and when I went to pay for them, was reminded of one of the benefits of living (or in our case visiting) Oregon — no sales tax. For someone, such as myself, who has lived his entire live in states with sales tax, the lack of that line item actually looked weird on the sales receipt. Well, I hope you enjoyed our trip to Oregon as much as I enjoyed sharing the photos and narrative. New subject next week. |
Life is good.
Aloha,
B. David
P. S., All photos and text © B. David Cathell Photography, Inc. — www.bdavidcathell.com