Trip to the Fjord Museum

Saguenay is known for its fjords and its marine life and research on that level as it runs along the Saguenay River and ends at the Lac Saint Jean.  This museum is situated on the Saguenay Marine Park and featured multiple exhibits.  Please note that I didn’t take pictures for all the exhibits especially when it was for mostly reading material or photographs.

The first exhibit was when we walked down the hall from the reception area to the first exhibition hall.  There was an exhibition of photos titled “Underwater Beauties”.  It had pictures of various colorful marine species like starfishes, sea anemones, etc.

The second exhibit was in the first hall and was a temporary exhibit featuring various types of whales.  It provided information on all sorts of whales like the Beluga, Dolphin, Killer Whales, Blue Whales, Right Whales, etc.  It was accompanied by little interactive games to better understand how the animals functioned such as their hearing, adaptation, maneuvering through water.

The third one that we went to was about BALSAC, a program collaborated by multiple professors throughout Quebec universities that focused on building a system on the historical values and figures of the Saguenay region.  It focused on the roots and colonization and the development in this region.  We walked through the panels of this exhibit called “Roots and Dreams: A Fresh Look at the Saguenay Lac Saint-Jean region.”  I was interesting to see how the region itself has developed over the last 40 years or so, socially and economically.  This one not only had a whole lot of information but came with video clips, sound clips, articles, various objects from the pertaining period.  They also explained the programs and how each professor occupied a crucial position in putting together all the data in about this region.

The fourth exhibit is where we get the real deal.  We enter into the farthest part in the museum and we see 2-3 aquariums with various fishes.

The aquariums weren’t really crazy or anything.  I believe it was focused on the marine life around the area, typical fishes, etc.  The one thing I really enjoyed about this museum though was the fact that it had the pool where you got to touch some of the marine life and because it has less traffic, they actually carefully explain everything to you and gives you the full experience.

So lets check out the stars of the little observation pool full of…

STARFISHES!

The girl explained that starfish had their teeth at the center and they would suck out the meat of say the mussels

SEA URCHINS

Sea urchins are similar to starfish as they also have their mouth at the middle which if you look clearly has 5 little teeth.

This was really funny because while in my boyfriend’s hand it was leaking water out of it from the back.

HERMIT CRABS

Hermit crabs usually borrow the empty shells to hide themselves.

The one on the bottom was placed down upside down which made them crawl out a bit more.

SEA CUCUMBERS

To end off this exhibit area, I’d like to show you a little stunt our little friend, the snail has when near a starfish, as they are their primary predators.

After this exhibit, we went to the another new permanent one called Museum Vivarium. Its where we can touch amphibians and arachnids and insects.

This little guy here is extremely fierce. He went straight for the finger.  Thank goodness there was a glass.

After that, there were the frogs.  That little guy is sitting on my boyfriend’s hand.How cool is that!?!

After the frogs, we had this aquarium full of leaves and branches. Or is it?

Voila! Stick bugs!

It was actually funny.  These stick bugs camouflage with trees and their branches.  So when the guide open the door to get one to show us and touch, the bugs started moving up and down, as if there was actual change in the environment so it was wind blowing through them.  It was hilarious to look at!

This area had a few other little nifty things, for example, a horseshoe crab skeleton (that thing is massive in size).  They had tarantulas and crickets.  They had specimans of insects all around the world, even one of the biggest ones were winged insects in Malaysia and Indonesia.  I’m not much of an insect person so that was somewhat disturbing.

Overall, this museum was really fun.  It wasn’t as big as  I had expected it to be but because it was less populated with visitors, it allowed the visit to feel more personal and experience a lot more.

Hope you enjoyed our visit to the museum, next stop will be to the Zoo Sauvage de St-Felicien!