New England Aquarium

Today was my first day at the New England Aquarium. I was wicked excited, because I have been going to the NEAq since I was very little, so it was cool to see the Aquarium from a different perspective. When I arrived, I meet up with Paul Leonard, Senior Aquarist for the Penguins.  He showed me where he worked and then got me started with helping to clean the Penguin exhibit; I have never cleaned so hard in my life.  It was now feeding time for the penguins, and for such little birds they eat a lot.  In the afternoon, he showed me around the aquarium from behind the scenes. The exhibits look different, when you are standing behind them.  The next day, I spent the morning working with the water quality team.  They have a very important job, because if there is something wrong with the water, the organisms can get sick.    During the afternoon I was allowed to watch and participate in a necropsy of cow nose rays.  A necropsy is like an autopsy, but for animals.  After the third one, an intern from the Veterinary staff and I did one ourselves.  It was really interesting.  The third day I shadowed one of the Marine Vets.  He had us running all over the place, between a very busy schedule and the emergency calls he received.  I was even able to go with him to the outside tank when he was giving one of the female harbor seals an injection.  The trainers would feed and distract the other seals while he did his work.