DAY 18: Wednesday, July 31st (3 zoos)
4,800 word report...
Zoo/Aquarium # 53: ZOOM Erlebniswelt (Gelsenkirchen, DE)
You all knew that I’d really enjoy ZOOM, right? C’mon…naturalistic exhibits, clear pathways, an organized, modern zoo that is all new and shiny. It’s not all fantastic, but this zoo gets most things right and I really enjoyed a visit of almost 4 hours. The zoo opened in 1949 as the Ruhr Zoo but was radically developed into a brand-new zoo between 2003 (Alaska) to 2010 (Asia). In those 7 years the entire current zoo was opened, and so the exhibits are all up to modern standards and are for the most part excellent. There are 74 acres/30 hectares and the zoo has approximately 1 million annual visitors and it’s been a successful new zoo in Germany.
I can totally understand why some zoo nerds don’t love ZOOM. There are three clear pathways that a visitor takes and then you’re basically on each of those paths until the very end as the whole zoo is purposefully laid out for visitors. That eliminates the desire to wander around on a whim, plus you sometimes end up in the vicinity of a loud family that you’re attempting to avoid, and you can’t always shake them off. I now know that from experience! Also, ZOOM lacks any quirkiness, like the ‘spaceship’ in the Japanese Macaque exhibit at Artis, or the bizarre Hamadryas Baboon rock exhibit at Krefeld. I enjoy seeing high-quality, naturalistic zoo habitats and so ZOOM is right up my alley. The layout is similar to Planckendael, with a central path leading to a tall, totem pole-like structure, and at ZOOM all three trails begin and end at the exact same meeting spot. The things that can be accomplished when building an entirely new zoo! Much like GaiaZOO in the Netherlands, ZOOM Erlebniswelt is divided into biomes and here it is Alaska, Africa and Asia.
Alaska: This whole section is of a very high quality in terms of the animal exhibits. The trail is 2 km/1.2 miles and surprisingly there are very few species in all that walking. First up is an exhibit for Eurasian Lynx (Alaska, hmmm…) that is nice and almost looks like a typical primate island. Canadian Beavers, North American Porcupines, Snowy Owls, Striped Skunks and Raccoons all have very attractive enclosures, with the right balance of looking partially like a slice of nature but allowing the animals to be seen by visitors. I loved the Moose habitat, with its rolling hills and deceptively simple barrier. I walked back and forth on a few occasions, attempting to figure out what is keeping the Moose inside, when two of the animals came over the crest in their exhibit and it was a spectacular sight. There is a deep pool and Moose love to swim, and a steel barrier is placed in the water but in such a subtle way that I could hardly spot it. I’m guessing that the Moose could, in theory, swim over to the other side and easily close the gap between the walking trail and their land area, but the metal barrier would be too difficult for them to swing a leg over. A fantastic design that shows a great deal of innovation.
Alaska has a large Reindeer paddock with a sizeable herd, plus a couple of immense Brown Bear exhibits (labeled as ursus arctos on at least one sign but are they Kodiak or Kamchatka or Grizzlies or what?) in stunning habitats. Visitors are still looking down on the bears, which isn’t always ideal, but essentially the two areas are two of the biggest and best bear grottoes that I’ve ever seen. They are probably the highlight of the entire Alaskan zone and truly great when the bears are active as they were on my visit. Up next might well be a contender for the best pinniped exhibit I’ve seen in my lifetime, with an extremely wide, 9-meter tunnel that is phenomenal to see California Sea Lions surging overhead. The pool itself is enormous, sculptured with mock-rock, and the guidebook (90 pages and free with your ticket!) states that the exhibit is “Europe’s largest sea lion facility”. This is a wonderful pinniped habitat and it is right up there with Pairi Daiza’s new Steller’s Sea Lion exhibit, and other great pinniped habitats at Saint Louis Zoo and Fresno Chaffee Zoo. I think that ZOOM might beat out the lot of them because the pool is massive, and the underwater tunnel is enormous and a real thrill when the sea lions surge over the heads of visitors. Then there are two Polar Bear exhibits, with ‘Antonia’ the dwarf/pygmy Polar Bear (born in 1989) in one of them as she has to live by herself to avoid getting hurt via conflict with other bears. This area is terrific, but not as great as the Brown Bear complex. The Alaska Ice Adventure multimedia attraction was closed, but I did see North American River Otters and a pack of very dark, almost black Wolves. One really great thing about the Alaskan loop is that the theming (school bus parked in the wilderness, gold-panning for kids, the dark mine shaft, Alaskan-themed cafe) does not at all infringe on any of the animal exhibits. I spent almost an hour and a half (to see a little over a dozen species!) just in the Alaskan section and I think that, a few quibbles aside, it is absolutely brilliant.
Africa: This loop is also of a very high quality, naturally because it’s still fairly new and was built to modern standards. Species included are African Lion, Spotted Hyena, Indian Crested Porcupine, Dwarf Mongoose, Rothschild Giraffe, Common Eland, Grant’s Zebra, a Kraal with Ankole Cattle and some goats, Ostrich, Greater Kudu, Springbok, Sable Antelope, Nyala, Impala, Blesbok, Meerkat and probably a dozen bird species including Lesser Flamingos and Pink-backed Pelicans. The big Savanna exhibit really is eye-catching, stretching on for several acres and with undulating hills, and the giraffe/antelope yard is equally impressive although smaller than the enormous Savanna. I was not inclined whatsoever to get on a slow-moving ‘African Queen’ boat ride, but I had a delightful lunch staring down at a trio of White Rhinos that were seemingly oblivious to the Springbok darting in and out of their enclosure. The antelope species from the Savanna can access the rhino yard but not the other way around. The Olive Baboon exhibit holds attention simply because of the sheer numbers of monkeys (maybe 50?) and their activity level is enormously high. Where do they get all of their energy from? Side yards for Common Hippos and Sitatunga round out a really excellent part of the zoo, although the Chimpanzee habitat didn’t quite work for me. Chimps often seem bored in zoos, and the space they have here is decent, but the glaring red mock-rock and the lack of enrichment is puzzling. Zoos really need to go above and beyond for Chimpanzees as providing them a large habitat is quite often never enough to keep the animals thoroughly engaged.
Before passing into a walk-through lemur island (very nice and with Red Ruffed Lemurs), there is an African Tropical House that also works as the indoor quarters for the Common Hippos and Chimpanzees. However, European zoos consistently include smaller animals in their big animal houses and so species on display here include: Moustached Guenon (two exhibits) as the star attraction for zoo enthusiasts, but there is a Serval, Short-eared Elephant Shrews, a handful of reptile terrariums and yet more birds. In general, the entire African loop is extremely well-done and representative of a range of species from that continent.
Asia: This is the newest (2010) and by far shortest loop of the zoo, and a bit disappointing due to the lack of animals. There are a handful of outdoor exhibits that are okay but underwhelming (Binturong, Amur Tiger, Red Panda, Bactrian Camel) and then the Pig-tailed Macaque enclosure works exceptionally well simply because there must be at least 30 macaques destroying the joint. There is nothing quite like a large number of primates, just about the most popular type of animal in a zoo, to create interest with visitors. I’m no different as I love primates as they are often active and engaging. The final outdoor section of the Asia loop is a pair of large exhibits for yet another mixed-species European delight: Sumatran Orangutans, Small-clawed Otters and Hanuman Langurs. The langurs are probably extinct in North American zoos and I’ve always loved seeing the species (I remember them well from Chattanooga Zoo in Tennessee almost a decade ago) and seeing the monkeys interact with the much larger apes was a delight. The outdoor exhibits clearly lack shade structures, although overall the dozen or so primates were all on the ground during my visit anyway.
There is a massive Asian Tropical House with a kiddie play area, a very fancy looking restaurant, indoor housing that combines the orangutans with langurs and Small-clawed Otters and for the umpteenth time a European zoo has included great apes with various other species in the same living space. There are tortoises, bats, many birds, etc., but the Tropical House seems to end abruptly and then the zoo is done. The Asian loop has some enjoyable primates, but the Alaskan and African trails are far superior. The three major loops are all better than the small children’s play area, barnyard zone and beer garden near the entrance. It’s quaint but tiny and not really applicable to zoo nerds.
Alaska: 2 km/1.2-mile loop = I was there for an hour and a half
Africa: 2.2 km/1.3-mile loop = I was also there for an hour and a half
Asia: 1.3 km/0.8-mile loop = I was there for 45 minutes
So, what to make of ZOOM Erlebniswelt in Gelsenkirchen? If you go back to the second paragraph in this review, I provided a brief summary on why this particular zoo isn’t a ‘zoo nerd paradise’. ZOOM lacks the rarities that bring out zoo nerds in droves, there isn’t a lot of character about the place, many of the animal species are predictable, with no surprises around corners due to the straight, one-way-only trails. Having said that, if one decides to peruse the ZooChat gallery they will see some really top-quality animal exhibits that have all been built during this century. There’s nowhere that is old and grimy, with rickety fencing or cramped quarters. Nothing needs to be bulldozed and if I was giving marks for overall exhibit quality then the zoo is probably an 8.5 or 9 out of 10. The Brown Bear/California Sea Lion/Polar Bear trio are fantastic, and the huge African Savanna and side yards for giraffes, rhinos and baboons are all very nice to see. The zoo could bring in some elephants to either Asia or Africa for its next act, or if there is space then a large South American complex would be the obvious next major addition. Some folks have pointed out that ZOOM has become a bit stagnant over the past decade and that’s because everything there is already new, and it will be decades before a revamp is needed. ZOOM is a very nice, half-day zoo and it sits in contrast to places like Wuppertal, Dortmund and Duisburg that possibly will appeal to zoo nerds more so than the facility in Gelsenkirchen. For me, ZOOM is like a larger, better version of Nashville Zoo, in that it’s all been constructed in recent memory and the exhibit quality is quite impressive.
Only 30 minutes northeast of ZOOM is another mid-sized zoo. It’s not nearly as great as ZOOM, is quirky in its layout, but it does contain an Amazon River Dolphin!
Zoo/Aquarium # 54: Duisburg Zoo (Duisburg, DE)
I need to begin this review with a tragic message: Duisburg Zoo no longer produces maps. As someone who has been faithfully saving zoo maps since childhood and has now built up a collection that is closing in on 2,000 different zoo maps (all categorized alphabetically by country or U.S. state and all organized in sealed bins and then updated in a word document – crazy, right?) I was appalled that the zoo has now phased out maps. I politely asked a few people and only one out of five spoke fluent English and he told me that the zoo is promoting the fact (and he pointed to a large poster to illustrate his point) that all visitors need to be downloading the zoo’s APP when they arrive. I was flabbergasted. Zoos like Planckendael or ZOOM, with their clear trails and well sign-posted areas, are zoos where if one were to hypothetically lose their map then it wouldn’t be an issue. Duisburg is a small, quirky German zoo, spread over two sections across a highway (just like Toledo Zoo in America) and so to not have a paper map at Duisburg was infuriating way beyond the Grzimek House not opening on time in Frankfurt. No map? No service! Restraining the desire to immediately leave the zoo, I was greatly saddened if we have come to the point in society, at a mid-sized German zoo, that downloading a zoo map onto our Iphones is how we will navigate. I’d rather pay several Euros and have an excellent paper version, thank you very much! Alas, that option has gone the way of the Passenger Pigeon.
So, map-less and feeling naked, I stumbled around the zoo by feeling with my hands outstretched in front of me as I had no idea where to go. This zoo opened in 1934 and so there are exhibits scattered everywhere, and on its 39 acres/16 hectares there are only perhaps 4 occasions when a large zoo map is posted. I had to double-back a number of times, complicated by the fact that a large construction project is going on in two locations, and I eventually made it through the whole zoo without losing any more of the few hairs that I have remaining on top of my head. Self-deprecating jokes aside, the zoo is a bit like Dortmund in that there aren’t a lot of great exhibits but there are some interesting bits and bobs. Having ZOOM, a new zoo full of immersive habitats in the modern approach, sandwiched between Dortmund and Duisburg was actually a nice contrast. I know that tons of you reading these reviews have visited all of the major Ruhr Valley German zoos and so you know exactly what I’m talking about. The zoos complement each other very well.
I walked into the Giraffe House and it held what was labeled as ‘Black Hornbill’ but in fact were at least 4 Southern Ground Hornbill in amongst the zoo’s three Reticulated Giraffes. A nice Black-headed Weaver aviary rounds out the building, before most visitors head next to the elephants. The elephants are not youngsters (born in 1985, 1990 and 1990 again) and the exhibit is only adequate and yet another European elephant exhibit that would probably have protestors outside in a big American zoo. The U.S. zoos have much larger elephant habitats and so many of the ones that I’ve seen in Europe would not make the grade in North America. Having said that, the elephant barns/houses in European zoos are far above anything comparable in most U.S. zoos. Some American zoos have built huge barns (Omaha, Cheyenne Mountain, etc.) but still many American zoos do not allow any access to the public into elephant barns, giraffe barns, antelope barns, etc. In Europe I basically go into all of them, warts and all like the much-discussed Frankfurt zoo Rhino/Hippo House. It’s extremely rare to go inside large mammal houses in American zoos and it’s probably so the zoo can hold back from showing visitors the inner workings of the animal houses that often include steel bars, small areas, equipment, etc. In European zoos the doors are swung open and everything behind the curtain is revealed and it is a refreshing change.
I then made my way towards the famous, almost legendary, Rio Negro House. There are 16 exhibits in the first room and 3 big tanks plus free-ranging species in the second room and the whole thing is the best part of the zoo. I watched ‘Baby’ the Boto (Amazon River Dolphin) for a long time, sitting on a bench and becoming sort of transfixed with the movements of the animal. The Boto is larger up close than I was expecting, with a lot of scars and scratches all over his body. The contortions in the water, the opening and closing of the mouth, the swimming upside down and in all directions…it was all truly fascinating and worth the trip to Duisburg Zoo right then and there. I almost forgave the establishment for a lack of a paper map. There are other species in that large room, including Lowland Paca, Two-toed Sloth, Southern Tamandua, Northern Caiman Lizard, and listed as free-ranging in the trees (although next to impossible to locate them all) were Black-tailed Marmoset, Red Titi and Golden Lion Tamarin. Clearly, the Rio Negro House & Aquarium complex is the premier attraction at Duisburg Zoo.
I’ve read reports of almost 1 million annual visitors at Duisburg (I probably got that information from Anthony Sheridan’s last book), but the zoo is a half-day encounter at best. There is a very nice Andean Bear exhibit (2012) that looks remarkably similar to the new one at Frankfurt Zoo, right down to the fact that both habitats currently have at least 4 bears. From certain angles it’s almost impossible to tell whether a photo of an Andean Bear exhibit was taken at Frankfurt or Duisburg! The Amur Tiger exhibit is another fairly new addition and it has several viewing areas. The zoo has a scattering of exhibits that contain species such as Bongo, Blue Duiker (great to see!), Ankole Cattle, Bactrian Camel, White Rhino (very small paddock), White-lipped Peccary, Red Panda, Reeves’ Muntjac, Lowland Tapir, Kirk’s Dik-dik, Indian Crested Porcupine, Banded Mongoose, Dwarf Mongoose, Fossa, Giant Anteater, Wolverine, Grey Wolf, Eurasian Lynx, European Wildcat and Clouded Leopard.
There is a terrific diversity of Australian fauna at Duisburg, including the following species: Koala, Swamp Wallaby, Bennett’s Wallaby, Eastern Wallaroo, Goodfellow’s Tree Kangaroo, Brush-tailed Kangaroo/Woylie, Short-beaked Echidna, Common Wombat, Tasmanian Devil, Emu and various parrots. The Cat House has African Lions and Fishing Cats and I received my daily downpour of rain while bracing myself against the elements with my Frankfurt Zoo umbrella. Whether it is 40 degrees Celsius or bucketing down rain, this road trip has seen its ups and downs with varying temperatures.
Duisburg’s Great Ape House has Pygmy Hippos outside with unseen barriers, plus Lowland Gorillas, Bornean Orangutans, Siamangs, White-cheeked Gibbons, White-naped Mangabeys, White-nosed Guenons, Roloway Monkeys, Lion-tailed Macaques, Black and White Colobus, Two-toed Sloths, Northern Tree Shrews and a few reptile terrariums. However, while I greatly enjoyed watching the gorilla feeding and seeing their nice outdoor habitat, the rest of the primate exhibits are mainly dreadful. Roloway Monkeys (so great to see!) have a nice outdoor exhibit, but the gibbon and orangutan enclosures are nasty and outdated and the indoor areas are from an era when everything had to be sanitary, clean, cement and then more cement. Where is the one-foot, thick layer of mulch that I’ve seen at some zoos? It should be mandatory in the indoor quarters of all apes, and probably for most monkeys as well. Some zoos pull it off with amazing indoor areas, while other zoos have glaring, hard, boring cement. My prediction for the not-too-distant future is that all zoos will eventually follow suit with the trend-setters and have mulch in primate indoor quarters.
Duisburg reminded me of Dortmund the day before, and not just for the idea of alliteration. Both zoos can be toured in approximately 3 hours (or maybe longer if a visitor wasn’t on a 95-zoo journey in a month) and both zoos really do lack a number of great exhibits. Duisburg ‘wins’ because of the Rio Negro House and the superior Amur Tiger, Andean Bear and Lowland Gorilla habitats, but Dortmund had a few more little rarities and quite an impressive South American collection. Both zoos have outdated areas and I haven’t even yet mentioned the Dolphinarium at Duisburg. That 1960s structure has 7 Bottlenose Dolphins that do tricks during several shows per day and I actually stood outside of the viewing window and watched the first few minutes of the afternoon performance. I’m obviously obsessed with zoos, but I often draw the line at cetacean exhibits. I feel that the dolphin tank at Duisburg is simply not even close to meeting the standards of what is required, and I turned my back on the performance after those first few minutes. I have zero desire to see a few dolphins in a fully-enclosed arena jump out of the water in their 55-year old concrete pool.
I then drove less than 30 minutes to my final stop of the day.
Zoo/Aquarium # 55: Aquazoo Lobbecke Museum (Dusseldorf, DE)
This was a special way to celebrate my 100th aquarium. Wow, how time flies. As I mentioned very early on in this thread, I’ll surpass 500 zoos all-time by the end of the trip and now at least 100 of them will be aquariums. Aquazoo Lobbecke Museum is no ordinary aquatic facility, or crappy Sea Life ‘identikit’ aquarium. This is a fully-fledged aquarium that in hindsight I wish I had spent longer with. There is no one that I know of who has visited this establishment in the past couple of years, and therefore it was impossible for me to know what to truly expect. After already touring ZOOM and Duisburg, by the time I walked in the door at Aquazoo I had exactly an hour and a half before closing time. Plenty of time, correct? Well, I did end up seeing everything in that time frame but I felt a tad rushed and so I would recommend setting aside at least two hours or more to view it all without having to become stressed each time there was a booming announcement in German about how the aquarium was closing in 30 minutes…now the aquarium is closing in 20 minutes…Achtung!...now the aquarium is closing in 10 minutes, etc. One thing in my favour is that I can unfortunately not read any German and the lack of all-English signs in all of these zoos and aquariums is probably one of the biggest disappointments of the trip. This whole ‘zoo vacation’ has surpassed all expectations and been outstanding, but there is obviously a little frustration because I’m walking around 95 zoos in one summer without being able to read any of the cool signage that is on offer.
The Aquazoo Lobbecke Museum has 25 themed rooms, with a focus on the evolution of life and the diversity of the planet. It begins with an Atlantic Puffin exhibit, with only two birds, and then expands with the rooms labeled as letters of the alphabet. Room A is Adaptations at all levels, Room B is The first life forms and Room C is From single cells to mammals, etc. The rooms continue with a theme of In the Oceans (Rooms D, E, F), In Freshwater (Rooms G-K), On Land (Rooms M-W), before there are some final rooms about protecting and understanding diversity. For those that have not visited in a long time, it should be known that Aquazoo closed down in 2013 due to the desire to renovate the facility. Because of budget overruns of an additional 8 million Euros, and problems with aquarium tanks leaking, the whole facility did not reopen until late in 2017 and that is why I don’t know of any zoo nerds that have been back since then. For almost 4 years, and at a cost of 21 million Euros, this facility was overhauled and thus what greeted me was a series of excellence from room to room. The current premises, a huge building set far back from the road, has been home to aquatic delights since 1987, but the renovation job was so thorough that in many ways the Aquazoo is less than two years old. I’d be interested to learn of any other zoo enthusiasts that have made the trek to Dusseldorf since the reopening of the establishment to see if they concur with my thoughts.
I took the winding route and here, perhaps more so than anywhere else, it was frustrating to not be able to read the signs as labeling is excellent. Then again, I had an hour and a half, and I’d never be able to have seen it all otherwise. A double-edged sword! I counted each exhibit with live animals, and I ended up with a number that is hopefully accurate: 126 animal exhibits. There are a lot of fish tanks, especially early on, and then entire rooms with thematic inhabitants. For example, there is an Invertebrate Room with 21 vivaria containing all sorts of insects and spiders. Another room will have nothing but amphibians, yet another room will have reptiles, another room will only have tiny freshwater fish, etc. There is an Atlantic Puffin exhibit with only two birds, plus an African Penguin exhibit, with perhaps 4 birds, that are small and not especially noteworthy for a seasoned zoo enthusiast. However, many other terrariums and tanks in the building are very nicely designed, with the path looping around a central, small rainforest area with a jungle-like setting and 4 average-sized exhibits that showcase turtles and a trio of crocodilian species. Much of Aquazoo has standard-sized enclosures for the animals, but just about every single room has at least one spectacular, floor-to-ceiling animal exhibit and then a ring of standard-sized, micro-habitats.
I found Aquazoo Lobbecke Museum to be brilliant, engaging, informative and due to the renovation, that lasted for almost 4 years, everything inside seems new and shiny. It’s a wonderful establishment and an absolute must-visit for a zoo nerd. There is a lot to see and many rarities are included in the species list (e.g.: look at the frogs) that I’ve posted below. The lists below are full species lists except for fish because the aquarium has entire rooms with probably 30 species of small, freshwater fish and the task to compile those would be exhaustive. This place is astonishing and well worth a jaunt to Dusseldorf, Germany.
Here is a full species list (excluding most fish) for the 126 exhibits plus small, walk-through jungle:
Mammals (5 species): Afghan Mouse-like Hamster, Common Gundi, Naked Mole Rat, Golden Spiny Mouse and Dwarf Mongoose.
Birds (5 species): Atlantic/Common Puffin, African Penguin, Madagascar Red Fody, Bali Starling and Harlequin Quail.
Reptiles & Amphibians (57 species): Australian Freshwater Crocodile, African Dwarf Crocodile, Spectacled Caiman, Madagascar Ground Boa, Green Tree Python, Desert Horned Viper, Rough Greensnake, Milksnake, European Ratsnake, Crocodile Monitor, Green Tree Monitor, Green Iguana, Fiji Banded Iguana, Panther Chameleon, Knight Anole, Beaded Lizard, Common Knob-scaled Lizard, Mossy Prehensile-tailed Gecko, Standing’s Gecko, Bauer’s Chameleon Gecko, Solomon Island Skink, Ocellated Skink, European Legless Lizard, Oman Spiny-tailed Lizard, Chinese Crocodile Lizard, African Pancake Tortoise, Radiated Tortoise, Leopard Tortoise, Brown Tortoise, Chinese Three-banded Box Turtle, New Guinea Soft-shelled Turtle, Map Turtle, Painted Turtle, River Cooter, Matamata, Amazon Milk Frog, Tonkin Bug-eyed Frog, Bird Poop Frog, Riobamba Marsupial Frog, Bornean Rock Frog, European Tree Frog, Red-eyed Tree Frog, Australian Green Tree Frog, Mountain Chicken Frog, Spotted Poison Frog, Golden Poison Frog, Yelllow-bellied Toad, Sabana Surinam Toad, African Red Toad, Oriental Fire-bellied Toad, Aquatic Caecilian, Lake Patzcuaro Salamander, Spotted Salamander, Smooth Newt, Alpine Newt, Zagros Newt and Chinese Warty Newt.
Invertebrates (26 species): Egyptian Predatory Beetle, Red-spotted Assassin Bug, Sun Beetle, Leaf-cutter Ant, Water Scorpion, Milkweed Bug, Stalk-eyed Fly, Jewel Wasp (a bright metallic green), African Cave Cricket, Ethiopian Cricket, Warningly-coloured Grasshopper, Desert Locust, Giant African Mantis, Giant Asian Mantis, Giant Leaf Katydid, Jungle Nymph, Walking Leaf Insect, Peppermint Stick Insect, Black Forest Scorpion, Giant Tailless Whip Scorpion, Golden Silk Spider, Common Chilean Tarantula, Madagascar Cockroach, Millipede, Earthworm and African Giant Snail.
Aquatic displays (only a fraction of what is on exhibit): Blacktip Reef Shark, Small-spotted Catshark, Splitfin Flashlight Fish, Smooth-spotted Stingray, Southern Stingray, Oman Cownose Ray, Honeycomb Moray Eel, Mediterranean Moray Eel, Tiger Snake Eel, European Eel, Bigscale Scorpionfish, Bullseye Jawfish, Radial Firefish, Spotfin Lion Fish, Zebra Lionfish, Sailfin Leaf Fish, Spotted Gar, Clouded Archerfish, Clown Triggerfish, Yellow-spotted Triggerfish, Black-bar Triggerfish, Red-tooted Triggerfish, Ruby Red Piranha, Ornate Bichir, Largescale Foureyes, Mudskipper, Blind Cave Fish, Elephant Snout Fish, Short-snouted Seahorse, Long-snouted Seahorse, Barbour’s Seahorse, Zebra Pipefish, West African Lungfish, Common Octopus, European Lobster, European Crayfish and Spotted Porcelain Crab.
And I don't mean it in a bad way by any means. He usually raises some interesting point to discuss.
