Fish and Turtles

Today was aquarium today. The Maui Aquarium is a really first-rate aquatic zoo, filled with all sorts of swimming creatures, including hammerheads and giant rays! Sadly, all the pictures I took of the boneless variety came out blurry (they never stop moving), so alas, you will not see them here. Above is one of the cooler animals there--a frogfish, one of two species in the aquarium. The other was much smaller and wedged into a coral. There were also LOTS of unicorn fish:

I wonder why they're called unicorn fish? The horn seems to grow with the animal. The largest fish had the longest horns. In young unicorn fish, the horn is barely more than a wedge sticking out of the forehead. Very cool fish, though. In many tanks, small sharks swam right alongside the fish, and I wondered why the sharks didn't just chomp up their tank-mates! My favorite animals in the aquarium, though, were these guys:

Three-month-old baby sea turtles! ADORABLE! All three were very energetic and curious, very interested in the people passing by. Their tank was pretty big, but they all congregated around the front, eager to check everybody out. There were also adults in a nearby area:

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's an unenlagiine dromaeosaur!

So, kids, while here in Maui, two ridiculously awesome papers came out. One about Austraraptor, a new unenlagiine dromaeosaur from South America (above), and one about the brooding habits of maniraptor theropods. The raptor was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (online), and the brooding one was published in Science.

I found the Austroraptor paper, but I can't get into the brooding male paravians. Does anybody happen to have it? Thanks!

Oh, and Maui? Today sucked, honestly. We traveled to South Maui for supposedly awesome malls, but there were none. Additionally, the traffic was horrible and the people obnoxious (one bystander shouted "go back home!"). We came back and went on a whale sightseeing boatride. Humpback whales--saw one breach, which was cool. Unfortunately, I spent most of the ride trying not to throw up over the side. I apparently do not function well on the open sea. Thus, my preference for swimming pools.

Mau, Day 3, Part 2

I think this is where they film Lost!*

*That's not true. They film Lost on...a different island. The one that begins with K. Same place they filmed Jurassic Park. Anyway, nice picture, right?

Maui, Day 3

Lava, lava everywhere, and not an ounce to drink! Today the wife and I traveled to something called the "Dragons Teeth" rocks, which really means big awesome lava flows! The "dragons teeth" of myth and lore are vertically-oriented spikes of igneous goodness which look kind of like the dental arsenal of a dragon's lower jaw. More impressive than those draconic spikes was the lava flow itself, which stuck out like a spit into the ocean. The formation begins high above the water line but constantly slopes downward, so by the time you get to the end, the frothy waves cover the rock with every undulation, leaving awesome little tidepools in their wake. We found fish (I believe they were sculpin), hermit crabs, and tons of snails.

After that, we went snorkeling. Or, more accurately, I went snorkeling while Gina read her book on the beach. The waves were pretty severe, and it took me a really long time to get out to calm waters. Once there, however, I saw a ton of pretty fish, corals, and urchins. Interestingly, all of the wildlife was concentrated around the giant igneous rocks that were scattered haphazardly out in the sea. In between the stones, the sandy ground was pretty barren. I brought my aqua-camera, and I hope I snapped some good pictures. Hard to tell when you're wearing goggles.

Maui, Day 2

I looked "chiton" up on Google Image Search. This is not a chiton. It almost looks like some kind of bloated sand-dollar given the distinct five-pointed ridges across its dorsal surface. That, plus the bulky arm-like processes that attach to the rock surface, makes me think it's an echinoderm. It's the strangest creature I've seen on the island so far. Today I saw an anole lizard scamper across a rock, two small white herons, and sandpiper. We traveled to a really beautiful part of the island called "Needle Rock," and I was horrified to realize that I'd forgotten my camera. We'll probably go back with camera in tow, because you guys really need to see this formation.

Maui, for those who haven't been here, is kind of like Racoon City--the walking dead parol every street and every shopping center. This is like a rich (old) man's Florida. Tomorrow, snorkeling, and I bought a waterproof camera specifically for such adventures!

The View from Maui

This is the view from our balcony. Pretty, don'tchathink? Rule #1 when traveling to Maui: Do not bring books, especially new, expensive books. The pages will warp, and you will cry. Solution: Wrap the book in a cloth or towel and stick it in the fridge at night. The dry cold of the fridge reverses the effects of the hot moisture of the island. Such is what I have learned from The Necronomicon, the singular tome I brought with me to Maui. Its pages are filled with ghastly, horrific stories which bring me much glee.

Today is quite cool, the temperatures briefly rising into the low 80's, and that was when the sun was shining. Right now, the skies are overcast, and neighbors warn of rain on the horizen--something I would very much like to see while I'm here. Of exciting wildlife, there is plenty. Colorful birds have taken the place of mainland pigeons, croaking and pecking around human colonies. Small yellowish geckos with giant red eyes cling to outdoor walls, soaking up precious sunlight. On the beach, sand-colored crabs with enormous eyes and tiny pinchers scuttle to and fro. The strangest sight has been organisms which cling to rocks beaten by the surf. They look something like mounds of outwardly-overlapping scales, purple and red. Where scale meets igneous rock, long pink scales fan outwards. Very strange creatures, hard to the touch and immobile.