Pic of the Day

     Warty Comb Jelly – Tennessee Aquarium; Chattanooga, TN:  This was the most interesting jelly I saw at the aquarium.  As the jellies floated around the tank the jelly flashed colors of blues, yellows, greens and reds.   The colors appeared to move up and down the sides of the jellies like the flashing lights of Las Vegas neon sign.

     After being completely hypnotized by the movements and flashing lights, I read the accompanying fact sheet. What I thought was bioluminescence was actually light refraction.  As the jellies swam through the tank its lobed sides rippled back and forth.  Lights illuminating the tank refracted through combs that lined the edge of the lobes giving the appearance of flashing lights.  The flashing lights appeared to move up and down the side of the Sea Walnut’s side.  It was amazing to watch!

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 24-85mm zoom set to 85mm, Hand held, 1/30 sec. @ f5.6

Pic of the Day

     Spotted Jellyfish -- Tennessee Aquarium; Chattanooga, Tennessee:  This is another jellyfish I photographed at the Tennessee Aquarium over the weekend.  Spotted Jellies were very popular among the visitors, and there were a ton of visitors.  The Spotted Jellies were in a round (360 degree) tank in the middle of the room, and there was a constant flow of people mesmerized by the little jellyfish.  The Spotted  Jellies were small, some the size of quarter and others a little large than a silver dollar.

     The round tank made shooting difficult, but I found if a jelly was close to the glass, and I shot perpendicular to the glass I could get a sharp image.  As you can probably tell, I loved shooting the jellyfish.

     The next jellyfish I will post is even smaller than the Spotted Jelly, and it flashes lights!

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 24-85 zoom set to 85mm, Handheld, 1/250 sec. @ f5.6, ISO 5000

Pic of the Day

     Sea Nettle Jellyfish – Tennessee Aquarium; Chattanooga, TN:  My son has been living in Chattanooga for at least 5 years now and on every visit one of us would say.  Next time we’re (your) here, we’ll go to the aquarium.  Well, today we did.  The Tennessee Aquarium is excellent, and we had a great time!  I did take a few photos while there, mostly of the jellyfish. 

     All the jellyfish were mesmerizing, and fascinating to watch, especially this Sea Nettle Jellyfish.  To take the image I had to crank-up the ISO to 5000, then set the exposure compensation to –1 1/3 stop to compensate for the dark background.    I took dozens of images but this one had a nice flow with the tentacles and shape of the body.  Of course, the complementary colors of blue and yellow set against each other did not hurt either.  
     Had I used the technique of upping the ISO earlier in the day, I would have had some nice images of fish as well.  I will post some different jellyfish species over the next few days.


Nikon D7000, Nikkor 24-85mm zoom set to 24mm, handheld, ISO 5000, 1/160 sec. @ f 3.5, full frame image with no cropping