Seattle Aquarium Seattle Aquarium 'Ocean Pavilion' Grand Opening Species List

Ebirah766 said:
When you do expect the tanks to be "completed" in terms of species added?
Click to expand...
At this rate, I would say December / January in terms of all the animals we have onsite / at the offsite facility. We don't have the Javanese Cownose Rays onsite just yet so I wouldn't count them for now. But the Black Tip Reef Sharks and Leopard Whipray are the last Elasmos to move in (I'd expect November / early December as a good timeline), plus various other fish that are starting to be moved over in big numbers.
I don't have a timeline for when the Cownose Rays would get here, but it'll probably be after the Black Tips and Leopard Ray go in.

Also on a side note, the roof of the OP is now open for public access. Connects the Waterfront to Pike Place Market, and contains a lot of native artwork, native plants, and has a space for local vendors in the future.
 
Northwest_FIsh_Keeping said:
A couple new species of fish were introduced to the 'Inshore Reef' side of the Archipelago the other day, these include:
Flame Angelfishes (Centropyge loriculus)
Bicolor Angelfishes (Centropyge bicolor)
Double Lined Fusiliers (Pterocaesio digramma)
Lyretail Anthias (Males and Females) (Pseudanthias squamipinnis)
Blue-Green Chromis' (Chromis viridis) (These are in the Mangrove Lagoon side though)
(Plus more Foxfaces and Gold Rim Tangs)

I should get some photos tomorrow or somwtime next week
Click to expand...
I don't have the exact numbers but I'd estimate around 100 Blue-Green Chromis, 150 Lyretail Anthias, 4 Bicolor Angels, and 3 of 4 Flame Angels. And the Blue-Green Chromis are in the 'Inshore Reef' side, not the Mangrove Lagoon side like I had thought.
Other news:
•A Group of Five-Lined Cardinalfish (Cheilodipterus quinquelineatus) Now reside in the Seagrass Tank in 'At home in the Ocean' with the Epaulette Shark & Razorfish
•A Sea Apple (Pseudocolochirus spp.) Now resides in the Non-Photosynthetic Reef Tank which makes for a total of 3 Sea Apples on display now (2 in the tank next to it)
•I don't have the exact numbers but I wanna say it's around 50 more Spotted Lagoon Jellies joined the 'Jelly Nursery' Tank (previously only 8 in there) so it's much more full
•A couple more Mangrove Upside Down Jellies (Cassiopea andromeda) were added to the existing tank in 'At home in the Ocean'
 
Ebirah766 said:
Ooh, cardinalfish!
Click to expand...
That's one thing i was kinda surprised by, the number of Cardinalfish species we have. At least according to the species doc, we should have some Bangaii and Pajama Cardinals still BTS. I'm not sure which tank they'll be going in, but it's cool to see some other species besides those 2 common ones.
Northwest_FIsh_Keeping said:
I don't have the exact numbers but I'd estimate around 100 Blue-Green Chromis, 150 Lyretail Anthias, 4 Bicolor Angels, and 3 of 4 Flame Angels. And the Blue-Green Chromis are in the 'Inshore Reef' side, not the Mangrove Lagoon side like I had thought.
Other news:
•A Group of Five-Lined Cardinalfish (Cheilodipterus quinquelineatus) Now reside in the Seagrass Tank in 'At home in the Ocean' with the Epaulette Shark & Razorfish
•A Sea Apple (Pseudocolochirus spp.) Now resides in the Non-Photosynthetic Reef Tank which makes for a total of 3 Sea Apples on display now (2 in the tank next to it)
•I don't have the exact numbers but I wanna say it's around 50 more Spotted Lagoon Jellies joined the 'Jelly Nursery' Tank (previously only 8 in there) so it's much more full
•A couple more Mangrove Upside Down Jellies (Cassiopea andromeda) were added to the existing tank in 'At home in the Ocean'
Click to expand...
On a similar note, once the Golden Sweepers, Pompano, and other fish go in, this tank will be even better. Along with the Corals, but at this point I think we're just waiting for things to grow in since we've already got a decent amount of variety in there.

I should also correct myself in saying that they're not Powder Brown Tangs, they're Gold Rim Tangs (Acanthurus nigricans), they kinda look similar from afar but upclose (and according to the species doc), they're definitely Gold Rim Tangs.
 
Northwest_FIsh_Keeping said:
Other news:
•A Group of Five-Lined Cardinalfish (Cheilodipterus quinquelineatus) Now reside in the Seagrass Tank in 'At home in the Ocean' with the Epaulette Shark & Razorfish
•A Sea Apple (Pseudocolochirus spp.) Now resides in the Non-Photosynthetic Reef Tank which makes for a total of 3 Sea Apples on display now (2 in the tank next to it)
•I don't have the exact numbers but I wanna say it's around 50 more Spotted Lagoon Jellies joined the 'Jelly Nursery' Tank (previously only 8 in there) so it's much more full
•A couple more Mangrove Upside Down Jellies (Cassiopea andromeda) were added to the existing tank in 'At home in the Ocean'
Click to expand...
A couple other pieces of news I forgot to mention include:
  • The Blunt Slipper Lobster was removed from the 'Watch Out!' tank and is now BTS. This is because the Ornate Spiny Lobster and it were fighting and needed to be separated.
  • There is another Cushion Star in the Clownfish & Anemone Harem Tank so we have 2 Cushion Stars on display.
  • The Orange Weedy Scorpionfish was also removed from the 'Want to go out.. or stay in?' tank. I'm not sure if it's because the two were fighting or maybe it got sick but for now, only the Purple Weedy Scorpionfish is on exhibit.
And to my knowledge, we don't have any Seadragons onsite at the moment either (which makes sense since it sounds like the Seagrass tank in At Home in the Ocean will house the Epaulette Shark for another couple months at least). I'm guessing the person who told me that they saw them at the offsite facility must've seen the Ribboned Pipefish since those are at the offsite facililty (I can see how one would mix them up). Same with the Flamboyant Cuttlefish but that makes more sense cause of their short lifespan so it looks like the Dwarf Cuttlefish will be on exhibit for a while.

I'll make an updated species list later today so ya'll can get a more organized idea of what's on exhibit right now.
 
Now that it's been over a month since OP opened and the number of animals has doubled, let's update this: (this should include correct ID's that I may've gotten wrong on the initial list)

Updated Species List as of 9/10/24:

'The Reef'
  • Zebra Shark (Stegostoma tigrinum) (One Male)
  • Ocellated Eagle Rays (Aetobatus ocellatus) (Three Males)
  • Bowmouth Guitarfish (Rhina ancylostoma) (One Female)
  • Giant Moray (Gymnothorax javanicus)
  • Yellowtail Fusiliers (Caesio cuning) (over 250+)
  • Bluespine Unicorn Tangs (Naso unicornis)
  • Naso Tangs (Naso lituratus)
  • Eye-Stripe Tangs (Acanthurus dussumieri)
  • Ringtail Tangs (Acanthurus xanthopterus)
  • Emperor Angelfishes (Pomacanthus imperator)
  • Clown Triggerfishes (Balistoides conspicillum)
  • Porcupine Pufferfish (Diodon holocanthus)
  • Grey Dogface Pufferfish (Arothron nigropunctatus)
  • Pyramid Butterflyfishes (Hemitaurichthys polylepis)
  • Saddle Butterflyfishes (Chaetodon ephippium)
  • Spotted Sweetlips (Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides)
  • Purple Square Anthias (Males & Females) (Pseudanthias pleurotaenia)
  • Blue Streak Cleaner Wrasses (Labroides dimidiatus)
  • Yellow Stripe Wrasse (Coris flavovittata)
  • Moorish Idols (Zanclus cornutus)
  • Foxface Rabbitfishes (Siganus vulpinus)
  • Coral Rabbitfishes (Siganus corallinus)
  • Yellow Stripe Goatfishes (Mulloidichthys flavolineatus)
  • Manybar Goatfishes (Parupeneus multifasciatus)
One Ocean Hall
  • Yellow Seahorses (Hippocampus kuda)
  • Chocolate Chip Star (Protoreaster nodosus)
'Archipelago' (Mangrove Lagoon)
  • Blue Spotted Mask Rays (Neotrygon kuhlii) (Two Females)
  • Australian Stripey's (Microcanthus strigatus)
  • Spotted Scats (Scatophagus argus)
  • Yellow Stripe Goatfishes (Mulloidichthys flavolineatus)
  • Chocolate Chip Sea Stars (Protoreaster nodosus)
  • Red Mangrove Trees (Rhizophora mangle)
'Archipelago' (Inshore Reef)
  • Lyretail Anthias (Pseudanthias squamipinnis) (Males & Females)
  • Blue-Green Chromis (Chromis viridis)
  • Moorish Idols (Zanclus cornutus)
  • Gold Rim Tangs (Acanthurus nigricans)
  • Double-Lined Fusiliers (Pterocaesio digramma)
  • Bicolor Angelfishes (Centropyge bicolor)
  • Flame Angelfishes (Centropyge loricula)
  • Pearly Soldierfishes (Myripristis kuntee)
  • Foxface Rabbitfishes (Siganus vulpinus)
(Corals include: Plating Montipora, Staghorn Coral, various Mushroom Corals, Zoanthids, Hammer Corals, Bubble Corals, Rumphella sp. Gorgonians, Scroll Corals, Pagoda Cup Corals, Leptoseris Corals)
(Inverts include: Astrea Snails, Turbo Snails, and Blue Leg Hermit Crabs)

'At Home in the Ocean'
  • 'Want to be Friends?' | Ocellaris Clownfishes (Amphiprion ocellaris) / Tomato Clownfishes (Amphiprion frenatus) / Rainbow Bubbletip Anemones (Entacmaea quadricolor) / Giant Carpet Anemones (Stichodactyla gigantea) / Cushion Star (Culcita novaeguineae)
  • 'Want to play Hide & Seek?' | Epaulette Shark (Hemiscyllium ocellatum) / Razorfishes (Aeoliscus strigatus) / Five-Lined Cardinalfishes (Cheilodipterus quinquelineatus) / Sand Sifting Stars (Astropecten polyacanthus) / Pink & Black Sea Cucumbers (Holothuria edulis)
  • 'Want to go out... or stay in?' | Purple Weedy Scorpionfish (Rhinopias frondosa)
  • 'Read my mind?' | Dwarf Cuttlefishes (Sepia bandensis) / Rumphella sp. Gorgonians
  • 'Want to see a Magic Trick?' | Spotted Garden Eels (Heteroconger hassi) / Splendid Garden Eels (Gorgasia preclara) / Purple Square Anthias (Male & Females) (Pseudanthias pleurotaenia)
  • 'Watch out!' | Devil Scorpionfish (Scorpaenopsis diabolus) / Ornate Spiny Lobster (Panulirus ornatus) / Cushion Star (Culcita novaeguineae)
  • 'Are you a Night Owl Too?' | Blue-eye / Longspine Cardinalfishes (Zoramia leptacantha) / Sixline Wrasses (Pseudocheilinus hexataenia) / Sea Apple (Pseudocolochirus spp.) / Orange Sun Corals (Tubastrea sp.) / Black Sun Corals (Tubastrea micrantha) / Purple Gorgonian (Menella sp.) / Blueberry Gorgonians (Acalycigorgia sp.) / Wire Corals (various colors) (Cirrhipathes spiralis)
Tanks that don't have a theme in 'At Home in the Ocean'
  • Yellow Leaf Scorpionfishes (Taenianotus triacanthus) / Coral Banded Shrimps (Stenopus hispidus)
  • Many Lined Pipefishes (Dunckerocampus multiannulatus) / 'Caulerpa Prolifera' macroalgae
  • Mangrove Upside Down Jellies (Cassiopea andromeda)
  • Sea Apples (Pseudocolochirus spp.) / Chocolate Chip Star (Protoreaster nodosus)
  • Peacock Mantis Shrimp (Odontodactylus scyllarus)
'Jelly Nursery'
  • Spotted Lagoon Jellies (Mastigias papua)
'Animal Care Area' (Quarantine Pool)
  • Dusky Batfishes (Platax pinnatus)
  • Snub-nosed Pompanos (Trachinotus blochii)
  • Blue Hippo Tangs (Paracanthurus hepatus)
  • (Plus more Pyramid Butterflies and Australian Stripey's)
 
Last edited:
On the Ribbon Eel note, I did find this blurb on the website that mentions we do actually have at least one Ribbon Eel in our care somewhere BTS. This wasn't mentioned in the collection binder so it must've happened somewhat recently. Which is really exciting since that species could make it's debut much sooner than I thought. I still think they'll go into the 'Want to go out.. or Stay in?" tank since that's the perfect fit (lot's of caves, dim lighting) which unfortunately for me means the pictures will be garbage :( but we'll hopefully see soon.

It sounds like some more Animals were moved to OP on Sunday so I'll be sure to check soon.
Screenshot_20241015_162136_Chrome.jpg
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20241015_162136_Chrome.jpg
    Screenshot_20241015_162136_Chrome.jpg
    87.8 KB · Views: 159
The Dusky Batfishes, Blue Hippo Tangs, and Snubnose Pompano were all added into 'The Reef' so those are now out on public displays (Originally I was thinking the Pompano would go into the Archipelago, but after seeing how many we actually had, it makes sense why they went into the Reef instead)

Also, a few Scopas Tangs (Zebrasoma scopas) were also added into the Archipelago (both the Mangrove Lagoon and Inshore Reef). Photos coming soon.
 
The Orange Rhinopias is back on exhibit in At Home in the Ocean with the Purple Rhinopias. He was removed earlier for an unspecified reason.
There are also some baby Spotted Lagoon Jellies in the smaller Jelly Nursery tanks that are on view for the public.
There are also talks that 1 of the 2 remaining species of Elasmobranch will be moving in to 'The Reef' here soon. Since it has been almost a Month & ½ since Rhyna (the Bowmouth Guitarfish) was introduced, all has gone well and it looks like the Animal Care team are confident enough to move another Elasmo in. Which one, I'm not sure.
Personally, I'd love it to be the Leopard Whipray from a rarity standpoint. But the biggest complaint still is "There's only 1 shark, I thought there'd be more" so it could also be the Black Tips since those would mesh better with the public.

Also 2 species i completely skipped over on both species lists are the Barred Flagtails (Kuhlia mugil) & Hawaiian Flagtails (Kuhlia xenura) which have both lived in 'The Reef' since Day 1, i just forgot to mention them. They were moved over from the PCR gallery on Pier 59 initially. Which also means that the Hawaiian Flagtails as of right now, are the 1 species exception to the Coral Triangle theme since they're endemic to Hawaii.
 
Last edited:
Animals from PCR Gallery on Pier 59 moving over to OP:
With the planned closing of the PCR Gallery on Pier 59 very soon, some of the species are moving over to the Ocean Pavilion within the next few weeks. While nothing is confirmed yet, if I had to guess, most of the Tangs / Goatfish / Flagtails / Lyretail Anthias / and some of the Angelfish (Lemonpeel and Emperor) will be moved over immediately.
Most notably, the Short-Nosed Unicorn Tangs (
Naso brevirostris), Yellow Tangs, both species of Sailfin Tang, and potentially the Purple Tangs since they'd be new species to the Ocean Pavilion.

Everything else is moving to the offsite facility. But I'm guessing some of those species will be on exhibit within some time again. Specifically hoping for the Hawaiian Green Lionfish to be another exception to the Indo-Pacific theme since were possibly the only Aquarium to house one outside of Hawaii.

Other news is the Multi-Lined Pipefish are currently off exhibit as their tank is going through some water quality monitoring.
 
Speaking of new species, earlier this evening the Leopard Whipray (Himantura leoparda) was added to 'The Reef'. I'm guessing because there were so many midwater additions lately, the staff decided a benethic species should get the spotlight.
This is pretty huge since from a rarity standpoint, I believe Georgia is the only other Aquarium in the US to house one. Theyre pretty rare outside of Asia to my knowledge. Photos coming tomorrow hopefully since I'll be stopping by.
 
A couple new species I forgot to mention (These are all in 'At home in the Ocean')
  • Orange Spotted Filefishes (Oxymonacanthus longirostris) that now reside in the Clownfish Harem & Anemone Tank
  • Gold Head Sleeper Goby (Valenciennea strigata) and Twin-Spot Gobies (Signigobius biocellatus) that now reside in the Seagrass Tank
  • A pair of Copperband Butterflyfishes (Chelmon rostratus) and a Longnose Hawkfish (Oxycirrhites typus) that now reside in the Non-Photosynthetic Reef Tank.
I'm specifically excited about the Orange Spotted Filefishes. 6 of them are on exhibit now. They're one of my favorite species. They are on prepared foods (Frozen Mysis Shrimp and possibly Pellet to my knowledge).

This also means that the 2 juvenile Black Tip Reef Sharks will be the last of the on-site Elasmobranchs to be going on exhibit. Hopefully by next month, possibly around the same time or around Christmas to end off the year.
 
No new additions have been made since the last post. I would definitely expect at least 1 of the Black Tip Reef Sharks to be going in sometime soon before the end of the year (the plan I believe is to introduce one at first, then the second one a few weeks later like how they did with the Eagle Rays where it was 1 at a time, just to monitor how the first one does in the Reef).

I'm hoping some of the other fish go in soon as well that have been here for ages such as the Napolean Wrasses, Grouper, Archerfishes, etc. The life sciences team haven't done an updated species list of what's currently at the offsite facility yet to my knowledge so I'll be listening to see when that releases.
The social media team did use a picture of a Snowflake Moray on one of the promotional posts recently which I thought was a little interesting. It could be just because it fits the Winter / Christmas theme, but considering how common Snowflake Morays are in captivity, I wouldn't be surprised at all if we did have one BTS somewhere. We'll just have to wait and see.
 
The only "new" additions of recent are a generous amount of Baby Blue Hippo Tangs (Paracanthurus hepatus) that went into the 'Can we be friends?' tank (for that Nemo & Dory reference). I don't know for sure but based on their size, I'd imagine they're all captive bred. I'm guessing as they get larger, a majority of them will move to 'The Reef' where the adults are.
Speaking of 'The Reef', some more Dusky Batfish (Platax pinnatus) were added to the tank.

Northwest_FIsh_Keeping said:
a Longnose Hawkfish (Oxycirrhites typus) that now reside in the Non-Photosynthetic Reef Tank.
Click to expand...
This also turns out to be a Pair of Longnose Hawkfish that are in the tank now.

I still have a feeling for a big influx of new species to the OP within the coming weeks (especially with the inevitable Christmas crowd). The Mangrove Lagoon specifically I think is overdue for some new species since the last additions were the Bluespotted Rays a few months back.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top