Persephone
Well-Known Member
Okay this one uses slightly different rules than the Toronto Zoo one. I didn’t really try to see every fish species so I don’t note which ones were / weren’t present.
I went the evening before Thanksgiving (it was an accident, we use a different day in the USA). It was so crowded I was genuinely worried about crowd crush / trampling. You couldn’t stand still in some places without getting jostled by the sea of bodies around you. That automatically made the aquarium a lot less pleasant. I had already been to the Ripley’s aquariums in Tennessee and South Carolina. They’re quite similar after the first sections (and Tennessee’s penguins).
I’ll get into it later, but I liked the Canadian Waters area much more than the Amazon sections at the other parks, and it’s probably even enough to overcome Tennessee’s penguins.
But the others have their own small advantages like the glass bottom boats on Dangerous Lagoon and coconut crabs at Tennessee. I also thought South Carolina did the jellyfish area best with a room full of mirrors by the color changing tank.
It also doesn’t help that this location has the weakest species list at the moment. No spider crabs, no larger sharks, no sawfish. Roughtail stingrays, larger flatfish, lake sturgeon, and paddlefish aren’t quite enough to tip the scales. So. For now it’s maybe the best of the three aquariums with the weakest species list.
Oh, before we begin, does anyone know if there’s a meaning to the rotating art pieces on the aquarium’s outer wall?
ENTRY / EXIT
Koi, Goldfish
Unsigned Freshwater Tank
Unsigned Saltwater Tank
Axolotl
Bay Sea Star, Blue Mussel, Blood Star, Northern Sea Star
There are two unsigned tanks in the aquarium and they’re both at the front. They actually have a really cool effect, not necessarily for the saltwater / freshwater tanks being juxtaposed but because I spent a few minutes waiting for my tickets staring at it from a distance and figuring out how they achieved the effect. Koi are cool even if their tanks are a little small. That’s easily the smallest of the Ripley touch tanks and it doesn’t have some of the chain’s odder touch tank inhabitants like jellyfish. I don’t know why their signage makes such a big deal about the axolotl when it’s really deemphasized in the aquarium itself.
CANADIAN WATERS
Alewife
Bluegill, Bowfin, Common Carp, Freshwater Drum, Spotted Gar, Creek Chub, Lake Sturgeon, Paddlefish, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, Largemouth Bass, White Bass, Black Crappie, Yellow Percy, American Eel
Nannygoat Redfish
Atlantic Cod, Atlantic Halibut, Winter Flounder, Summer Flounder
North American Lobster
Dungeness Crab, Pacific Spotted Shrimp, Red Sea Urchin, Unsigned Fish
Sailfin Sculpin, Painted Greenling, Flat Porcelain Crab, Crested Gunnel, Grunt Sculpin, Clonal Anemone, Barnacles, Decorated Prickleback, Giant Pacific Oyster, California Mussel
Giant Red Sea Cucumber, Giant Pacific Octopus, Plumrose Anemone, Unsigned Fish
Fleshy Sea Pen, Eccentric Sand Dollar, Sand Sole
Chain Catshark
Tube Anemone
Blue Rockfish, Lingcod, Quillback Rockfish, Striped Surfperch, C-O Sole, Speckled Sandddab, Red Irish Lord, Copper Rockfish, Sablefish, Cabezon, Rock Greenling, China Rockfish, Starry Flounder, Kelp Greenling, Pacific Halibut, Pile Perch, Treefish, Canary Rockfish, Vermillion Rockfish, Yellowtail Rockfish, Barnacles, Brown Rockfish, Clonal Plumrose Anemone, Leather Star, Boccaccio, Yelloweye Rockfish. Tiger Rockfish
Gigantic Anemone, Clonal Anemone, Velvety Red Anemone, Spotted Red Anemone, Chevron-Tentacle Anemone, Unsigned Fish
Giant Red Sea Urchin, Plumrose Anemone, Red Turban Snail, Canary Rockfish, Purple Sea Urchin, Giant Green Anemone, Unsigned Fish
Alaskan King Crab
Okay, so, Dangerous Lagoon is clearly supposed to be the centerpiece of this aquarium. And it’s pretty good! I remember it blew me away the first time I saw it in Tennessee. But now that it’s old hat, Canadian Waters was the highlight for me.
I don’t know what sort of deal they made with the devil, but I saw the American eel and a few large flatfish swimming in the water column while I was there. I’ve never seen that before for either species. Actually, I don’t think I’ve seen the flounder species they had in an aquarium before. Or I have and they didn’t leave an impression. Paddlefish are also always a delight. Our little freshwater basking sharks.
A lot of aquariums try for cool designs in their tanks and I think Ripley’s has the highest batting average for it. The alewife tank in particular is really cool, especially when you look down into it and see the first floor below. I didn’t think the giant pacific octopus tank worked at all, though. It was hard to get a straight view of it, although it certainly was massive. It might be an optical illusion, but they never seemed as big to me before as they did here. Just wish the aquarium was more viewer friendly. There was a sand dollar signed in their benthic species tank. I know most aquariums don’t bother with them because guests will never see them. I didn’t. Has anyone actually spotted it before?
Oh, before I move on, really cool to see a large kelp forest display in a chain aquarium.
RAINBOW REEF
Powderblue Surgeonfish, Flame Hawkfish, Moon Wrasse, Orange-Band Surgeonfish, Chocolate Surgeonfish, Convict Tang, Tomato Clownfish, Eyestriped Surgeon, Bicolor Angelfish, Blacktail Angelfish, Flame Angelfish, Indian Vagabond Butterfly, Saddle Butterflyfish, Blackwedged Butterflyfish, Raccoon Butterflyfish, Blackspotted Pufferfish, Clown Triggerfish, Diana’s Hogfish, Barred Flagtail, Black Triggerfish, Stripey, Elegant Unicornfish, Copperband Butterflyfish, Harlequin Tuskfish, Coral Hawkfish, Threespot Dascyllus, Bird Wrasse, Palette Surgeonfish, Orbicular Batfish, Emperor Angelfish, Yellowface Angelfish, Picasso Triggerfish, Magnificent Rabbitfish, Foxface Rabbitfish, Pajama Cardinalfish, Moon Wrasse, Bowtie Damselfish
This was the best of the three rainbow reefs and it’s not even particularly close. It felt like the largest tank and the most realized in species diversity. I spent a long time sitting here and just watching everything. I know the reef tanks usually play second fiddle to big open shark tanks, and this one does, but it felt like a strong exhibit in its own right rather than just a prelude to Dangerous Lagoon. Speaking of…
DANGEROUS LAGOON
Blue-Striped Grunt, Sergeant Major, Bermuda Chub, Lookdown, Yellowtail Snapper, French Angelfish, Nurse Shark, Green Sea Turtle, Lemon Shark, Atlantic Tarpon, Roughtail Stingray, Green Moray Eel, Grey Angelfish, Red Grouper, Black Grouper, Porkfish, Grey Angelfish, French Grunt, White Mullet
Potato Cod, White Mullet, Goliath Grouper
It’s still a really good exhibit. Pretty sure this had the most sea turtles of the three and they were all being pretty active. Nurse and lemon sharks are big enough for the average kid. Think they could probably afford to move the goliath groupers over, though. I feel like you could easily miss them entirely right now and they could add some more star power.
The friend I was with really liked the tarpon. I adored the roughtail stingrays (more on them later). Didn’t see the morays. The schooling fish are great and provide a nice balance to the tank’s larger inhabitants. Shame they don’t have sawfish anymore. These are always my favorite aquariums for the species since they love to lie down on top of the tunnel. Outside of Georgia’s whale sharks and manta rays, I’m not sure I’ve ever felt the same sense of awe in an aquarium as I did the first time I saw a sawfish at Ripley’s.
The moving sidewalk feels slow enough to take in the view without being so slow that it tests my patience. Feels like a great innovation for these aquariums. Almost like a little dark ride. Overall, still a fantastic execution of the centerpiece tank.
SHARK REEF
Epaulette Shark, Whitetip Reef Shark, Blacktip Reef Shark, Whitespotted Bamboo Shark, Tassled Wobbegong
Clownfish (sp?)
Spotted Scorpionfish, Red Lionfish
The hub of the aquarium is fine. The other two aquariums have their touch tanks here and it helps add a purpose to it beyond hosting the bathrooms and restaurant. The midwater tunnel is a fantastic idea and I would love to see a larger version some day. I get why the wobbegongs are here, but I think they could also fit well in Dangerous Lagoon. Without the touch tank the hub felt pretty empty.
THE GALLERY
Orchid Dottyback, Neon Goby, Yellow Tang, Twospot Surgeonfish, Small Giant Clam, Torch Coral, Arc-Eye Hawkfish, Staghorn Coral, Bittleneck Sea Cucumber, Bicolor Angelfish, Bubble Coral, Longnose Hawkfish, Canary Wrasse, Montipora Coral, Longspine Urchin, Unsigned Hermit Crab, Unsigned Damselfish
Freckled Porcupinefish
Electric Eel, Unsigned Neon Tetra
Pot-Bellied Seahorse
Weedy Seadragon
Banded Archerfish, Striped Panchax
European Common Cuttlefish
Red-Bellied Piranha, Striped Leporinus
Orchid Dottyback, Neon Goby, Yellow Tang, Twospot Surgeonfish, Small Giant Clam, Torch Coral, Arc-Eye Hawkfish, Staghorn Coral, Bittleneck Sea Cucumber, Bicolor Angelfish, Bubble Coral, Longnose Hawkfish, Canary Wrasse, Montipora Coral, Longspine Urchin, Unsigned Hermit Crab, Unsigned Damselfish
Freckled Porcupinefish
Electric Eel, Unsigned Neon Tetra
Pot-Bellied Seahorse
Weedy Seadragon
Banded Archerfish, Striped Panchax
European Common Cuttlefish
Red-Bellied Piranha, Striped Leporinus
This felt like the weakest Gallery of the Ripley’s Aquarium, if only because the others keep some of the Canadian Waters species here. Don’t get me wrong: the species list is good. Cuttlefish and sea dragons are some of my favorites. Giant clams, archerfish, and electric eels are good support for them. The electric eel tank felt really small, though. I feel like they often get the short end of the stick in aquariums since they’re a large fish that can’t be housed with other large fish.
Side note: Tennessee’s shipwreck gallery was constantly blasting The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald through the entire place until it was hammered into my brain. It was at a more reasonably volume at this aquarium, so much so that I couldn’t even hear it at all. My friend did, though
RAY BAY
Potamotrygon leopoldi, White-Blotched River Stingray
Roughtail Stingray, Yellowtail Snapper, Bluestripe Grunt, Cownose Ray, Spotted Eagle Ray, Porkfish, Lookdown, Bar Jack, Bonnethead Shark, Southern Stingray
An early version of this review skipped right from Dangerous Lagoon to Ray Bay because I forgot there were things between them lol. Ray Bay is great. At the other two aquariums it felt like it was just a poor man’s Dangerous Lagoon with a touch tank up top. And, to be clear, that’s true. But it felt special here. The roughtail stingrays were way bigger than I was expecting, eagle rays are always beautiful, and I love how the Cownose rays will just do mildly Lovecraftian things with their mouthparts. (Tangent — I saw a wild southern stingray give birth once. I was doing field work on the South Carolina coast and we caught one in our net. She gave birth as we measured here, probably out of stress. Both mother and pups swam off just fine when we let her go.) This actually ended up being one of my favorite parts of the aquarium.
PLANET JELLIES
Pacific Sea Nettles
Moon Jellyfish
Upside-down Jellyfish
Blue Bubbler Jellyfish
Look, they’re jellyfish. Not even rare species of jellyfish in captivity aside from the blue bubbler. But these exhibits never fail to feel magical. The constantly shifting colors, the slow movements of the jellyfish, a place to sit and rest in a dark environment. It was a great way to end the aquarium. I sat there with my friend for a few rotations of the colors, noting that each rotation was subtly different. I feel like an art museum could have an exhibit like this and it wouldn’t feel out of place. It isn’t the most impressive aquarium exhibit, but I do think the Planet Jellies are the best designed ones. They’re really only rivaled by by Shedd’s now-defunct Underwater Beauty.
The life support system on the way out is always a nice touch, and some of the transparent panes with water flowing down them felt like they could’ve been in a children’s museum exhibit.
I’m on an ill-advised quest to visit every AZA facility. I dread every Sea Life I have to go to, but I’m genuinely sad there are no more Ripley’s left to conquer.
I went the evening before Thanksgiving (it was an accident, we use a different day in the USA). It was so crowded I was genuinely worried about crowd crush / trampling. You couldn’t stand still in some places without getting jostled by the sea of bodies around you. That automatically made the aquarium a lot less pleasant. I had already been to the Ripley’s aquariums in Tennessee and South Carolina. They’re quite similar after the first sections (and Tennessee’s penguins).
I’ll get into it later, but I liked the Canadian Waters area much more than the Amazon sections at the other parks, and it’s probably even enough to overcome Tennessee’s penguins.
But the others have their own small advantages like the glass bottom boats on Dangerous Lagoon and coconut crabs at Tennessee. I also thought South Carolina did the jellyfish area best with a room full of mirrors by the color changing tank.
It also doesn’t help that this location has the weakest species list at the moment. No spider crabs, no larger sharks, no sawfish. Roughtail stingrays, larger flatfish, lake sturgeon, and paddlefish aren’t quite enough to tip the scales. So. For now it’s maybe the best of the three aquariums with the weakest species list.
Oh, before we begin, does anyone know if there’s a meaning to the rotating art pieces on the aquarium’s outer wall?
ENTRY / EXIT
Koi, Goldfish
Unsigned Freshwater Tank
Unsigned Saltwater Tank
Axolotl
Bay Sea Star, Blue Mussel, Blood Star, Northern Sea Star
There are two unsigned tanks in the aquarium and they’re both at the front. They actually have a really cool effect, not necessarily for the saltwater / freshwater tanks being juxtaposed but because I spent a few minutes waiting for my tickets staring at it from a distance and figuring out how they achieved the effect. Koi are cool even if their tanks are a little small. That’s easily the smallest of the Ripley touch tanks and it doesn’t have some of the chain’s odder touch tank inhabitants like jellyfish. I don’t know why their signage makes such a big deal about the axolotl when it’s really deemphasized in the aquarium itself.
CANADIAN WATERS
Alewife
Bluegill, Bowfin, Common Carp, Freshwater Drum, Spotted Gar, Creek Chub, Lake Sturgeon, Paddlefish, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, Largemouth Bass, White Bass, Black Crappie, Yellow Percy, American Eel
Nannygoat Redfish
Atlantic Cod, Atlantic Halibut, Winter Flounder, Summer Flounder
North American Lobster
Dungeness Crab, Pacific Spotted Shrimp, Red Sea Urchin, Unsigned Fish
Sailfin Sculpin, Painted Greenling, Flat Porcelain Crab, Crested Gunnel, Grunt Sculpin, Clonal Anemone, Barnacles, Decorated Prickleback, Giant Pacific Oyster, California Mussel
Giant Red Sea Cucumber, Giant Pacific Octopus, Plumrose Anemone, Unsigned Fish
Fleshy Sea Pen, Eccentric Sand Dollar, Sand Sole
Chain Catshark
Tube Anemone
Blue Rockfish, Lingcod, Quillback Rockfish, Striped Surfperch, C-O Sole, Speckled Sandddab, Red Irish Lord, Copper Rockfish, Sablefish, Cabezon, Rock Greenling, China Rockfish, Starry Flounder, Kelp Greenling, Pacific Halibut, Pile Perch, Treefish, Canary Rockfish, Vermillion Rockfish, Yellowtail Rockfish, Barnacles, Brown Rockfish, Clonal Plumrose Anemone, Leather Star, Boccaccio, Yelloweye Rockfish. Tiger Rockfish
Gigantic Anemone, Clonal Anemone, Velvety Red Anemone, Spotted Red Anemone, Chevron-Tentacle Anemone, Unsigned Fish
Giant Red Sea Urchin, Plumrose Anemone, Red Turban Snail, Canary Rockfish, Purple Sea Urchin, Giant Green Anemone, Unsigned Fish
Alaskan King Crab
Okay, so, Dangerous Lagoon is clearly supposed to be the centerpiece of this aquarium. And it’s pretty good! I remember it blew me away the first time I saw it in Tennessee. But now that it’s old hat, Canadian Waters was the highlight for me.
I don’t know what sort of deal they made with the devil, but I saw the American eel and a few large flatfish swimming in the water column while I was there. I’ve never seen that before for either species. Actually, I don’t think I’ve seen the flounder species they had in an aquarium before. Or I have and they didn’t leave an impression. Paddlefish are also always a delight. Our little freshwater basking sharks.
A lot of aquariums try for cool designs in their tanks and I think Ripley’s has the highest batting average for it. The alewife tank in particular is really cool, especially when you look down into it and see the first floor below. I didn’t think the giant pacific octopus tank worked at all, though. It was hard to get a straight view of it, although it certainly was massive. It might be an optical illusion, but they never seemed as big to me before as they did here. Just wish the aquarium was more viewer friendly. There was a sand dollar signed in their benthic species tank. I know most aquariums don’t bother with them because guests will never see them. I didn’t. Has anyone actually spotted it before?
Oh, before I move on, really cool to see a large kelp forest display in a chain aquarium.
RAINBOW REEF
Powderblue Surgeonfish, Flame Hawkfish, Moon Wrasse, Orange-Band Surgeonfish, Chocolate Surgeonfish, Convict Tang, Tomato Clownfish, Eyestriped Surgeon, Bicolor Angelfish, Blacktail Angelfish, Flame Angelfish, Indian Vagabond Butterfly, Saddle Butterflyfish, Blackwedged Butterflyfish, Raccoon Butterflyfish, Blackspotted Pufferfish, Clown Triggerfish, Diana’s Hogfish, Barred Flagtail, Black Triggerfish, Stripey, Elegant Unicornfish, Copperband Butterflyfish, Harlequin Tuskfish, Coral Hawkfish, Threespot Dascyllus, Bird Wrasse, Palette Surgeonfish, Orbicular Batfish, Emperor Angelfish, Yellowface Angelfish, Picasso Triggerfish, Magnificent Rabbitfish, Foxface Rabbitfish, Pajama Cardinalfish, Moon Wrasse, Bowtie Damselfish
This was the best of the three rainbow reefs and it’s not even particularly close. It felt like the largest tank and the most realized in species diversity. I spent a long time sitting here and just watching everything. I know the reef tanks usually play second fiddle to big open shark tanks, and this one does, but it felt like a strong exhibit in its own right rather than just a prelude to Dangerous Lagoon. Speaking of…
DANGEROUS LAGOON
Blue-Striped Grunt, Sergeant Major, Bermuda Chub, Lookdown, Yellowtail Snapper, French Angelfish, Nurse Shark, Green Sea Turtle, Lemon Shark, Atlantic Tarpon, Roughtail Stingray, Green Moray Eel, Grey Angelfish, Red Grouper, Black Grouper, Porkfish, Grey Angelfish, French Grunt, White Mullet
Potato Cod, White Mullet, Goliath Grouper
It’s still a really good exhibit. Pretty sure this had the most sea turtles of the three and they were all being pretty active. Nurse and lemon sharks are big enough for the average kid. Think they could probably afford to move the goliath groupers over, though. I feel like you could easily miss them entirely right now and they could add some more star power.
The friend I was with really liked the tarpon. I adored the roughtail stingrays (more on them later). Didn’t see the morays. The schooling fish are great and provide a nice balance to the tank’s larger inhabitants. Shame they don’t have sawfish anymore. These are always my favorite aquariums for the species since they love to lie down on top of the tunnel. Outside of Georgia’s whale sharks and manta rays, I’m not sure I’ve ever felt the same sense of awe in an aquarium as I did the first time I saw a sawfish at Ripley’s.
The moving sidewalk feels slow enough to take in the view without being so slow that it tests my patience. Feels like a great innovation for these aquariums. Almost like a little dark ride. Overall, still a fantastic execution of the centerpiece tank.
SHARK REEF
Epaulette Shark, Whitetip Reef Shark, Blacktip Reef Shark, Whitespotted Bamboo Shark, Tassled Wobbegong
Clownfish (sp?)
Spotted Scorpionfish, Red Lionfish
The hub of the aquarium is fine. The other two aquariums have their touch tanks here and it helps add a purpose to it beyond hosting the bathrooms and restaurant. The midwater tunnel is a fantastic idea and I would love to see a larger version some day. I get why the wobbegongs are here, but I think they could also fit well in Dangerous Lagoon. Without the touch tank the hub felt pretty empty.
THE GALLERY
Orchid Dottyback, Neon Goby, Yellow Tang, Twospot Surgeonfish, Small Giant Clam, Torch Coral, Arc-Eye Hawkfish, Staghorn Coral, Bittleneck Sea Cucumber, Bicolor Angelfish, Bubble Coral, Longnose Hawkfish, Canary Wrasse, Montipora Coral, Longspine Urchin, Unsigned Hermit Crab, Unsigned Damselfish
Freckled Porcupinefish
Electric Eel, Unsigned Neon Tetra
Pot-Bellied Seahorse
Weedy Seadragon
Banded Archerfish, Striped Panchax
European Common Cuttlefish
Red-Bellied Piranha, Striped Leporinus
Orchid Dottyback, Neon Goby, Yellow Tang, Twospot Surgeonfish, Small Giant Clam, Torch Coral, Arc-Eye Hawkfish, Staghorn Coral, Bittleneck Sea Cucumber, Bicolor Angelfish, Bubble Coral, Longnose Hawkfish, Canary Wrasse, Montipora Coral, Longspine Urchin, Unsigned Hermit Crab, Unsigned Damselfish
Freckled Porcupinefish
Electric Eel, Unsigned Neon Tetra
Pot-Bellied Seahorse
Weedy Seadragon
Banded Archerfish, Striped Panchax
European Common Cuttlefish
Red-Bellied Piranha, Striped Leporinus
This felt like the weakest Gallery of the Ripley’s Aquarium, if only because the others keep some of the Canadian Waters species here. Don’t get me wrong: the species list is good. Cuttlefish and sea dragons are some of my favorites. Giant clams, archerfish, and electric eels are good support for them. The electric eel tank felt really small, though. I feel like they often get the short end of the stick in aquariums since they’re a large fish that can’t be housed with other large fish.
Side note: Tennessee’s shipwreck gallery was constantly blasting The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald through the entire place until it was hammered into my brain. It was at a more reasonably volume at this aquarium, so much so that I couldn’t even hear it at all. My friend did, though
RAY BAY
Potamotrygon leopoldi, White-Blotched River Stingray
Roughtail Stingray, Yellowtail Snapper, Bluestripe Grunt, Cownose Ray, Spotted Eagle Ray, Porkfish, Lookdown, Bar Jack, Bonnethead Shark, Southern Stingray
An early version of this review skipped right from Dangerous Lagoon to Ray Bay because I forgot there were things between them lol. Ray Bay is great. At the other two aquariums it felt like it was just a poor man’s Dangerous Lagoon with a touch tank up top. And, to be clear, that’s true. But it felt special here. The roughtail stingrays were way bigger than I was expecting, eagle rays are always beautiful, and I love how the Cownose rays will just do mildly Lovecraftian things with their mouthparts. (Tangent — I saw a wild southern stingray give birth once. I was doing field work on the South Carolina coast and we caught one in our net. She gave birth as we measured here, probably out of stress. Both mother and pups swam off just fine when we let her go.) This actually ended up being one of my favorite parts of the aquarium.
PLANET JELLIES
Pacific Sea Nettles
Moon Jellyfish
Upside-down Jellyfish
Blue Bubbler Jellyfish
Look, they’re jellyfish. Not even rare species of jellyfish in captivity aside from the blue bubbler. But these exhibits never fail to feel magical. The constantly shifting colors, the slow movements of the jellyfish, a place to sit and rest in a dark environment. It was a great way to end the aquarium. I sat there with my friend for a few rotations of the colors, noting that each rotation was subtly different. I feel like an art museum could have an exhibit like this and it wouldn’t feel out of place. It isn’t the most impressive aquarium exhibit, but I do think the Planet Jellies are the best designed ones. They’re really only rivaled by by Shedd’s now-defunct Underwater Beauty.
The life support system on the way out is always a nice touch, and some of the transparent panes with water flowing down them felt like they could’ve been in a children’s museum exhibit.
I’m on an ill-advised quest to visit every AZA facility. I dread every Sea Life I have to go to, but I’m genuinely sad there are no more Ripley’s left to conquer.
