Sea Life, Brighton.

 While in Brighton, we visited its Sea LIfe which claims to be the oldest, continually operating aquarium in the world. Designed by architect Evgenius Birch in 1869, it opened in 1872.

This was my first aquarium visit and, as you enter, the 68 metre vaulted corridor lined with water tanks containing rays, snails, turtles, etc., your attention is certainly held, especially with the constantly changing coloured lighting.

I think my favourite character there was the octopus. They have three hearts and blue blood, thanks to the protein haemoganin cyanin which contains copper. They are camouflage artists, possessing chromatophores which allow them to change colour, and papilli – tiny areas of skin which can expand and contract to change the texture of their appearance. Their 500 million neurons allow each arm to taste, touch and react to the environment independently. They are intelligent beings, able to solve problems such as navigate complex mazes and unscrew jars to access food. They can recognize individuals of other species, even human faces.

 Certainly, this one kept the one eye we could see trained on us, happily performing lazy, elegant arm movements before rising up the tank to retrieve his plaything resting atop a branch–a ball!                                         The octopus apparently has an artistic sense! Collecting their meal debris – the shells of clams and scallops – they adorn the entrance to their home. Cue in The Beatles’ ‘Octopus’s Garden!

As a linguist, I was interested to learn the collective nouns for jellyfish: a bloom, a fluther, a swarm or a smack – the latter being a sharp reminder of being a sting recipient in Greek waters! They are very simple organisms, being 94% water, and have a short life span, ranging from a few hours to several years. They have, however, been around for a long time – 500 million years or so - which means they predate the dinosaurs.

They move by contracting the muscles of their body and the water squeezed out from the cavity of their jelly belly😊 jet propels them in the required direction. I watched in fascination as the fluther – good word, that! – in the tank moved gracefully to and fro. They needed the accompaniment of some dreamy classical music. 

I was really happy to see some sea horses which I find beautiful. Despite their name, Hippocampus or horse animal, they are fish. Without a stomach, they suck food in through their snouts. Monogamous, it is the male who carries the eggs in his pouch, deposited there by the female, until they hatch. They, too, can change colour to avoid predators and, being poor swimmers, they tie their tails to plants as anchors, so as not to be swept away by currents.

 It was amazing to see several fairly large sharks swim overhead in some glass tunnels formations.

And it was fun to go into the little alcove and have the beluga whale holograms appear to rush over to welcome you.

 I was glad I had had that experience but, overall, my overall impression was that the aquarium was like a tired old dame, definitely in need of a revamp. Not like this bright, young dame below!