A Day at the Aquarium at Mall of America

One of the perks of the Mall of America is the Underwaters Adventure Aquarium. It is really neat to go thru, and you are in tunnels that go right thru the aquarium. So all the animals are swimming all around you, except below. This is all in the basement of the Mall. So, one day when the kids had no school, I signed them up to help feed the sharks! We went in for a tour, "Behind the Scenes" where they show you their lab, above all the tanks (which is where they feed the animals) and the kitchen, where they store and prepare all the food. This was really interesting, and they only take 4 people for the feedings. I snagged that opportunity up quick! No camera's were allowed down there, as it was the basement of the mall for security purposes, so the only pictures I can show below is from when we were finished and went thru the tunnels.

We were feeding the sharks mackerel and squid. They gave us long tongs, and we tapped the water to get the sharks attention to come eat, and when they would, we would hold the tongs down, and they would come up and snatch the food away--just 3 feet separating us from them. All 3 tried it, however, I did hang on to the tongs with Jacque and Ben just to make sure they didn't get tugged in!! As we were feeding them, this VERY large sting ray clinged to the wall below us, and kept lifting itself up and out ( so you could see him mouth underneath him) and would slide up to the open air a good 10 inches, trying to get the squid from us. So weird. They said that is how they feed the sting rays, and this one was still hungry!

So below are some pics of the kids as we finished up going thru the aquarium......

Typical teenage grin :o) Don't ya just love em' !

A sea turtle swimming by.....

It's a little freaky seeing a shark swim over you....

Some very large sting rays and sharks.....