Grey nurse shark ( Carcharias Taurus): its teeth give it a ferocious look, but this shark doesn’t eat people. When they are at sea, their dark back and light belly serves a purpose: camouflage. As they spend a good part of their days on the water, they have two layers of waterproof feathers. They have a fat layer that protects them from the cold on South Georgia, the island in the southern Atlantic Ocean from where they are native. Magellanic penguin ( Spheniscus magellanicus): many of these little penguins, all very good swimmers, were born in the Oceanário de Lisboa. So they have to work hard, since they have a lot of fur. And this is very important since this species, native from the North Pacific, doesn’t have fat to protect itself from the cold. They take good care of their fur to keep it waterproof. Contrary to Portuguese otters, which live only in the rivers, the sea otters spend their time at sea and because of that they have their hind paws in the shape of a fin. They are the animals that eat the most in the entire Oceanário: they ingest nine kilos of food daily, the equivalent of 30% of their weight. They frequently sleep with their paws together, to prevent from drifting away in the waters. This species occurs also in Portuguese waters.Īlaskan sea otter ( Enhydra lutris): Micas and Maré are two sea otters that were born in the aquarium. These bony fishes usually lie on their sides on the water surface for the birds to eat the parasites, just as if they were sunbathing (hence the English name, sunfish). The sunfish is very fragile and sensitive to parasites because it doesn’t have scales on its skin. It has the most original appearance and it’s really amazing: it’s the largest bony fish in the world, reaching more than three meters in length and weighing in at over two tons. Sunfish ( Mola mola): this sunfish arrived at the Oceanário de Lisboa four years ago. And how they reproduce themselves? In a very easy way, they just twist together. They only move to another hole to increase their chances of catching food, when the tides change. In their natural habitat, on tropical and sub-tropical seas, the garden eels live in big colonies, buried on their sand holes, from where they peep just to catch some food. The garden eel’s aquarium is the most recent acquisition in the Oceanário de Lisboa. Though very tiny, we can hardly pass on by without noticing them. Garden eel ( Gorgasia preclara and Heteroconger hassi): these two species (in the main photo) make us think about cartoons, with its full colours and bright eyes. Wilder went on a guided tour to Oceanário de Lisboa, Lisbon aquarium, and presents you the seven animals no one can miss when visiting this underwater world.
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