The next posts will be for both Wild Reef and the Special exhibit, Underwater Beauty. I'll post both because, rather unfortunately seeing as some of the most interesting species are in these two exhibits, I have incomplete lists for both. The good news is that from here on out I should have record of nearly everything signed.
In the case of Wild Reef, I simply didn't take pictures for much of the signage, which I very much regret because I didn't get a chance to go back down there like I planned, as I received a call that my group had left the building! It turns out, they were just waiting around in the park area outside the aquarium. There is no reentry, so I've never been so frustrated to eat an ice cream
Wild Reef
1.
Sea Nettles A Jelly tank outside the entrance elevator to Wild Reef (1 Species):Atlantic
coast sea nettle (Chrysaora quinquecirrha)
2.
Garden Eel tank INCOMPLETE Nice, well lit medium sized tank: Philippine garden eel,
Spotted garden eel, Vagabond butterflyfish
3. Lobster and Cowfish tank INCOMPLETE Nice, well lit medium sized tank: Wide-eye
shovelnose lobster, Sculptured slipper lobster, Longhorn cowfish, Tomato clown, +2 rockfish like fish
4. Walk-on Stingray tank Very cool shallow stingray tank that you can walk over the glass for
part of! (3 species):
Ribbontail stingray (Taeniura lymma), Fiddler ray (Trygonorrhina fasciata), Blue spotted stingray (Neotrygon kuhlii)
5. Main Shark Reef INCOMPLETE Very nice, large, nicely decorated and lit tank that curves
inward slightly:
Green sawfish, Zebra shark, Blacktip reef shark, Spotted wobbegong shark, Sandbar shark, Queensland grouper, Achilles tang, Yellowbanded sweetlip, Yellowtail fusilier, Golden trevally, Blue-lined snapper, Sergeant major
6. Wrasse Tank Tall, vertical tank with an impressive array of very colorful Wrasses (12 species):
Dotted wrasse (Cirrhilabrus punctatus), Deepwater wrasse (Cirrhilabrus bathyphilus), Orangeback fairy wrasse (Cirrhilabrus aurantidorsalis), Exquisite wrasse (Cirrhilabrus exquisitus), Purplelined wrasse (Cirrhilabrus lineatus), Threadfin wrasse (Cirrhilabrus temminckii), Blueside wrasse (Cirrhilabrus cyanopleura), Lubbock’s wrasse (Cirrhilabrus lubbocki), Laboute’s fairy wrasse (Cirrhilabrus laboutei), Yellowfin flasher wrasse (Paracheilinus flavianalis), Pink flasher wrasse (Paracheilinus carpenteri), McCosker’s flasher wrasse (Paracheilinus mccoskeri)
7.
Row of Micro reef tanks 4 or 5 very small tanks for very small inhabitants of the coral reefs,
signed together (5 Species):
Tiger tail seahorse, Yellow clown goby, Pink skunk clownfish, Cave shrimp, Open brain coral
8.
Smaller reef tank INCOMPLETE Tank with more reef animals: Picturesque dragonet, Banded
coral shrimp
9.
Mangrove tank 1 Open topped dimly lit tank covered by mock mangroves. Some inhabitants
of this and the other mangrove tank across from it have swapped signage (7 Species): Whitespotted bamboo shark, Green scat, Silver mono, Kole tang, Two-lined monocle bream, Unsigned archerfish and long slender fish
10.
Mangrove tank 2 INCOMPLETE open topped tank with a little less moc mangroves.
Some inhabitants of this and the other mangrove tank across from it have swapped signage: Whitespotted bamboo shark, Coral catshark, Vlaming’s tang, Threadfin butterflyfish, Lemonpeel angelfish, Jansen’s wrasse, Harlequin sweetlips, Vagabond butterflyfish, Longnose hawkfish, Tomato clownfish, Silver mono, Emperor snapper
11.
Coral propagation tank Tank for showcasing the work Shedd does with raising and
propagating endangered corals (8 Species): Bartletts’ anthias (Pseudanthias bartlettorum), Purple queen anthias (Pseudanthias tuka), Copperband butterflyfish (Chelmon rostratus), Flamefin tang (Ctenochaetus tominiensis), Kole tang (Ctenochaetus strigosus), Racoon butterflyfish (Chaetodon lunula), Sailfin tang (Zebrasoma veliferum), Fire urchin (Astropyga radiata)
I revisited Shedd in March, and Wild Reef was my obvious first stop after missing so much of it on my last visit. I have a full list now, completing all of the 'incomplete' tanks and the ones that were skipped.
Wild Reef (Complete)
1.
Sea Nettles A Jelly tank outside the entrance elevator to Wild Reef (1 Species): Atlantic coast sea
nettle (Chrysaora quinquecirrha)
2.
Shoreline Surf An open-topped rock tank with fake corals (13 Species): Clark’s clownfish
(Amphiprion clarkii), Andaman damsel (Pomacentrus alleni), Mustard tang (Acanthurus guttatus), Moon wrasse (Thalassoma lunare), Longnose butterflyfish (Forcipiger flavissimus), Convict tang (Acanthurus triostegus), Red belted anthias (Pseudanthias rubrizonatus), Foxface rabbitfish (Siganus vulpinus), Sixbar wrasse (Thalassoma hardwicke), Green chromis (Chromis viridis), Regal blue tang (Paracanthurus hepatus), Threestrip wrasse (Thalassoma quinquevittatum), Jeweled rockskipper blenny (Salarias fasciatus)
3.
Giant Clam Reef tank Nice, well lit tank with many vibrant fish and live corals (30 Species): Giant
Clam (Tridacna gigas), Orange shoulder tang, Blotched anthias, Yellow clown goby, Philippine yellow tang, Sailfin tang, Purple queen anthias, Orange anthias, Flame hawkfish, Gold-rimmed tang, Longnose butterflyfish, Regal blue tang, Peach fairy basslet, Orange masked tang, Green chromis, Clown tang, Scissortail goby, Gilded triggerfish, Powder brown tang, Raccoon butterflyfish, Kole tang, Scribbled rabbitfish, Blue sea star, Mushroom anemone, Leaf leather coral, Moon coral, Kenya tree coral, Sunburst coral, Leather coral, Scroll coral
4.
Crown-of-Thorns tank Small shelf tank with rocky area and sandy bottom (1 Species): Crown-of-
Thorns sea star (Acanthaster planci)
5. Bioluminescence tank Similar setup to the Crown-of-Thorns tank, with more substrate (1 Species): Unsigned anemone sp.
6. Schooling Fish tank A large, wide and deep tank with moc rock, fake corals, and a long floor-to
ceiling glass and portions that extend overhead to provide underside viewing of the false herring. (67 Species!): Orange shoulder tang, Black durgan, Philippine butterflyfish, Black pearlscale butterflyfish, Foxface rabbitfish, Blue devil damselfish, Lined butterflyfish, Bluelined snapper, Double-barred rabbitfish, Bannerfish, Clown anemonefish, Powder brown tang, Threeband bannerfish, Bluestreak cleaner wrasse, Peach fairy basslet, Latticed butterflyfish, Sailfin tang, Eclipse hogfish, Honeycomb moray, Three-striped damselfish, Metallic squirrelfish, Orange anthias, Orange masked tang, Four-striped damselfish, Five-lined cardinalfish, Flame hawkfish, Stocky anthias, Pacific double-saddled butterflyfish, Unicorn tang, Vlaming’s tang, Vagabond butterflyfish, Candy Cane squirrelfish, Coral hogfish, Emperor angelfish, Threadfin snapper, Pearlscale butterflyfish, Speckled butterflyfish, Collared butterflyfish, Sunburst butterflyfish, Ring-tailed cardinalfish, Spotband butterflyfish, Longnose butterflyfish, Lemonpeel angelfish, Clark’s clownfish, Diana’s hogfish, Round-faced batfish, Yellowmargin triggerfish, False herring (Harengula culpeola), Regal blue tang, Round batfish, Tomato clownfish, Raccoon butterflyfish, Purple square anthias, Green chromis, Kole tang, Scribbled rabbitfish, Sixbar angelfish, Pyramid butterflyfish, Threadfin butterflyfish, Saddleback butterflyfish, Blackback butterflyfish, Clown grouper, Spotted unicorn tang, Red-bar anthias, Mertens butterflyfish, Silverspot squirrelfish, Orangespot rabbitfish
7.
Mid-Predator tank A large, deep tank with one large floor-to-ceiling glass panel at the front and a
smaller viewing area from the side. Filled with many large rocks and with a view into the Shark Reef through glass in the back (13 Species): Queensland grouper, Blue and yellow grouper, Raccoon butterflyfish, Emperor snapper, Threadfin snapper, Porcupinefish, Bluestreak cleaner wrasse, Honeycomb moray, Orange-lined triggerfish, Candy Cane squirrelfish, Clown grouper, Bluelined snapper, Vermilion grouper
8.
Reef hideout tank A nearly identical tank to the Crown-of-Thorns one (3 Species): Yellow clown
goby, Chinese zebra goby, Mexican turbo snail
9.
Squirrelfish tank Smaller tank with rockwork (3 species): Silverspot squirrelfish, Blackbar
soldierfish, Unsigned Masked butterflyfish
10.
Garden Eel tank Nice, well lit medium sized tank with large substrate area (4 species): Philippine
garden eel, Spotted garden eel, Pajama cardinalfish, Blueband goby
11.
Stonefish and Cowfish tank Nice, well lit medium sized tank with some rockwork (5 species):
False stonefish (Scorpaenopsis diabolus), Longhorn cowfish, Wantanabe’s angelfish, Sculptured slipper lobster (Parribacus antarticus), Variegated urchin
12.
Lobster tank Nice, well lit medium sized tank with rockwork (4 species): Five-lined cardinalfish,
Blacktail angelfish, Clown anemonefish, Lobster sp.
13.
Engineer Goby tank Nice, well lit medium sized tank with rockwork (5 species): Engineer goby,
Longnose hawkfish, Arc eye hawkfish, Fourstriped cardinalfish, Vagabond butterflyfish
14.
Nocturnal tank Darkened medium sized tank with rockwork (3 species): Splitfin flashlightfish
(Anomalops katoptron), Matted filefish, Unsigned Pineconefish
15.
Lionfish tank Tall, vertical tank (1 species): Red lionfish
16.
Walk-on Stingray tank Very cool shallow stingray tank that you can walk over the see-through
glass for part of! (3 species): Ribbontail stingray (Taeniura lymma), Fiddler ray (Trygonorrhina fasciata), Blue spotted stingray (Neotrygon kuhlii)
17.
Main Shark Reef Very nice, a large tank with rockwork reefs with glass viewing that curves
inward slightly (15 species): Zebra shark, Blacktip reef shark, Whitespotted guitarfish, Sandbar shark, Spotted wobbegong, Blue devil damselfish, Yellowbanded sweetlips (Plectorhinchus lineatus), Golden trevally, Queensland grouper, Yellowtail fusilier, False herring, Bluelined snapper, Bluestreak cleaner wrasse, Achilles tang, Sergeant major
*Of note, there is no longer any sign of the Green Sawfish! It is possible that it is still hiding in the back of the tank, but the fact that a Whitespotted guitarfish is now in the tank indicates to me that the sawfish is sadly gone...
18.
Wrasse Tank Tall, vertical tank with an impressive array of very colorful Wrasses, similar to the
Lionfish tank (12 species): Dotted wrasse (Cirrhilabrus punctatus), Deepwater wrasse (Cirrhilabrus bathyphilus), Orangeback fairy wrasse (Cirrhilabrus aurantidorsalis), Exquisite wrasse (Cirrhilabrus exquisitus), Purplelined wrasse (Cirrhilabrus lineatus), Threadfin wrasse (Cirrhilabrus temminckii), Blueside wrasse (Cirrhilabrus cyanopleura), Lubbock’s wrasse (Cirrhilabrus lubbocki), Laboute’s fairy wrasse (Cirrhilabrus laboutei), Yellowfin flasher wrasse (Paracheilinus flavianalis), Pink flasher wrasse (Paracheilinus carpenteri), McCosker’s flasher wrasse (Paracheilinus mccoskeri)
19.
Row of Micro reef tanks 4 or 5 very small tanks for very small inhabitants of the coral reefs,
signed together (5 Species): Tiger tail seahorse, Yellow clown goby, Pink skunk clownfish, Cave shrimp, Open brain coral
20.
Smaller reef tank Tank with more reef animals and live coral (14 Species): Picturesque dragonet,
Lemon goby, Bicolor blenny, Yellow clown goby, Purple Cap firefish, Orangespot filefish, Cinnamon clownfish, Banded coral shrimp, Mexican turbo snail, Leaf leather coral, Starburst coral, Branching hammer coral, Mushroom anemone, Lobed leather coral
21.
First Mangrove tank Open topped dimly lit tank covered by mock mangroves (7 Species):
Whitespotted bamboo shark, Green scat, Silver mono, Kole tang, Two-lined monocle bream
22.
Second Mangrove tank open-topped tank with a little fewer moc mangroves (15 species):
Whitespotted bamboo shark, Coral catshark, Vlamingi tang, Threadfin butterflyfish, Lemonpeel angelfish, Jansen’s wrasse, Harlequin sweetlips, Vagabond butterflyfish, Longnose hawkfish, Tomato clownfish, Silver mono, Kole tang, Two-lined monocle bream, Redfin needlefish (Strongylura notata notata), Barred flagtail
23.
Coral propagation tank Tank for showcasing the work Shedd does with raising and propagating
endangered corals (8 Species): Bartletts’ anthias (Pseudanthias bartlettorum), Purple queen anthias (Pseudanthias tuka), Copperband butterflyfish (Chelmon rostratus), Flamefin tang (Ctenochaetus tominiensis), Kole tang (Ctenochaetus strigosus), Racoon butterflyfish (Chaetodon lunula), Sailfin tang (Zebrasoma veliferum), Fire urchin (Astropyga radiata)
I have more specific species updates to make to this thread for the rest of the aquarium, which I'll post, time permitting. In the meantime, I've posted some general updates
Here.
