Shedd Aquarium-Well Worth The Trip
By Phillip Wurm
GVAC Newsletter #45 2010
I used a well-earned July vacation day and loaded daughters Brittany and Megan
into the car in the early AM for a long round trip to Shedd Aquarium, in
Chicago.
This was my second trip there, the first having been twelve years ago. They
have since added the "Wild Reef" display, and just this spring finished the
oceanarium remodel. These seem to have taken most of their expertise and
expense budget, as several of the older areas seemed a bit neglected, and just
"ordinary" in stock and quality of such. Nevertheless, this is a trip I
heartily recommend making.
For the main floor displays, the "Caribbean Reef" is still the centerpiece.
Even though I am a hard-core and dedicated freshwater guy, this is spectacular,
with a full 360 degree walk around view. The other, older displays are grouped
as "Rivers", "Islands and Lakes", "Local Waters", "Oceans", and "Amazon
Rising".
Megan pretty much set the tempo through the main floor displays. We breezed
through the walleye and chubs of the "Local Waters", "Oceans", and "Rivers".
With the "Islands and Lakes" being of particular interest to me, she did slow
down (a bit). The African cichlid displays were colorful, with one each
dedicated to the great lakes of Malawi, Tanganyika, and Victoria. The Malawan
display was full of Labeotropheus trewavasae "OB morph", with a sprinkling of a
few Labidochromis, but nothing else. For you frontosa fans, they were well
represented with some Julidochromis in the Tanganyikan display. The Victorian
display had some species of haps that I had never seen before. Unfortunately, I
did not have time to jot down any species names.
The biggest sight for me, as far as the fresh water displays went, was a mated
pair of jewel cichlids, Hemichromis bimaculatus, herding around a huge cloud of
fry, and keeping the other five adult jewels and the others in the tank at bay.
They were quite successful.
The most surprising, to me at least, was a tank full of blue-tailed Goodeids. I
have never seen so many of these, about fifty, full grown, in a display before.
I did question why their colors were washed out, though.
The "Amazon Rising" display had a spectacular recreation of a typical river bank
scenario, with a large, gorgeous, display of neon tetras with a couple dozen
lemon tetras and a like number of pencil fish mixed in. It's amazing that any
of them survive in the wild with the way they glow. I did not see any of the
various discus species they listed as being in the displays, though.
For you marine enthusiasts, the "Wild Reef", in the lower level, would be the
main attraction. Not being familiar with the types, I cannot make any
observations except WOW!! Invertebrates, anemones, and dozens of fish species,
including a display of rays that you actually walk over, and view through a
special floor.
For my daughters, the lower level oceanarium viewing area, with three Pacific
White-Sided Dolphins and four Beluga whales was the treat. We actually had the
dolphins displaying and showing just to the three of us for full two minutes or
so at one point, before everyone else saw them, and crowded in. Just a short
walk from that viewing area is the Shedd's penguin display area.
I hope this has given you a good idea of what you've missed if you have not been
to the Shedd. We were not able to make the show in the amphitheater, because of
time constraints, and the fact that we also took in the Field Museum of Natural
History on the trip.
Some final advice on the trip. If you are taking the kids, I would recommend
you brown-bag it. The cafeteria prices there are on the high end, and there are
indoor and outdoor areas where you can take your own lunches and relax. Ticket
pricing, I felt, was fair enough. Adults were $25, and kids (3 to 11) were $18.
Parking was $19, but if you just do Shedds and stay for no more than four hours,
it would be $16. My jaw did drop a bit with the girls choices from the gift
shop, with Illinois having a 10 and 1/4% sales tax. Just be prepared, and drive
defensively in the notorious Chicago traffic-the warnings of that were not
exaggerated to me!