The Porte Dor̩e Aquarium РParis, France

The Porte Dor̩e Aquarium РParis, France

The Porte Dorée Aquarium is part of the Palais de la Porte Dorée complex and is quite large It is easily reached from Central Paris via the subway system. You get off the subway at the Porte Dorée station. My initial interest was in visiting the large park surrounding Lac Daumesnil which is across the street from the Porte Dorée Aquarium. Both are a reasonable short walk from the subway station. It is probably easy to get a cab or bus from the subway to the park or the aquarium but I just walked.

Although I found many things in the exhibits to interest me, the large Humphead Wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) was the creature that got most of my attention. The aquarium has named their specimen “Napoleon”. “Napoleon” is a wrasse from the Indo-Pacific region. Males of the species reach 6 feet in length, females somewhat smaller. Colour in these images is real, not photoshopped!

Once I got past the thrill and enjoyment of seeing and photographing “Napoleon, I turned my attention to other exhibits.  The saltwater marine exhibits are generally more brightly lit than most of the freshwater exhibits so the SW exhibits tended to get more of my attention than the FW exhibits.

The size and colour of some of the other marine display inhabitants was quite spectacular.