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I was fortunate enough to get a tour of Jewels of the Sea: The Jellyfish Experience this week. The exhibit, which opens to the public on March 15, is split into three galleries: Realm of Jellies, The Jellyfish Passage, and Medusa Gallery. The aquarists are not yet done sourcing all the species that will be present in the new exhibit, but the species I was able to see included:
  • Mnemiopsis mccradyi (Warty comb jelly)
  • Aurelia aurita (Moon jelly)
  • Cassiopea andromeda (Upside-down jellyfish)
  • Chrysaora plocamia (South American sea nettle)
  • Chrysaora quinquecirrha (Atlantic sea nettle)
The aquarists did mention they are looking to source more species. Some they mentioned included:
  • Chrysaora fuscescens (Pacific sea nettle)
  • Cyanea capillata (Lion's mane jellyfish)
  • Mastigias sp. (Golden jellies)
Overall I thought the exhibit was quite beautiful. As a standalone exhibit, it fits quite nicely into Ocean Explorer. I can't really compare it to any other jelly exhibits, as I haven't seen that many. What I can say is that it surely is nice to have a new animal attraction at the park, especially one that is dedicated to such a unique animal group. Hopefully this small species list will get people excited about the upcoming exhibit!
 
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zoocentral said:
I was fortunate enough to get a tour of Jewels of the Sea: The Jellyfish Experience this week. The exhibit, which opens to the public on March 15, is split into three galleries: Realm of Jellies, The Jellyfish Passage, and Medusa Gallery. The aquarists are not yet done sourcing all the species that will be present in the new exhibit, but the species I was able to see included:
  • Mnemiopsis mccradyi (Warty comb jelly)
  • Aurelia aurita (Moon jelly)
  • Cassiopea Andromeda (Upside-down jellyfish)
  • Chrysaora plocamia (South American sea nettle)
  • Chrysaora quinquecirrha (Atlantic sea nettle)
The aquarists did mention they are looking to source more species. Some they mentioned included:
  • Chrysaora fuscescens (Pacific sea nettle)
  • Cyanea capillata (Lion's mane jellyfish)
  • Mastigias sp. (Golden jellies)
Overall I thought the exhibit was quite beautiful. As a standalone exhibit, it fits quite nicely into Ocean Explorer. I can't really compare it to any other jelly exhibits, as I haven't seen that many. What I can say is that it surely is nice to have a new animal attraction at the park, especially one that is dedicated to such a unique animal group. Hopefully this small species list will get people excited about the upcoming exhibit!
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Now this is more of what I was expecting from San Diego, that's awesome. I haven't seen many Atlantic Nettles in public aquariums so that's a cool one to see. Hopefully if I'm back in San Diego later this year, I'll be able to check it out. This + the Birch Aquarium renovation will be a nice mix up for the area.
 
zoocentral said:
I was fortunate enough to get a tour of Jewels of the Sea: The Jellyfish Experience this week. The exhibit, which opens to the public on March 15, is split into three galleries: Realm of Jellies, The Jellyfish Passage, and Medusa Gallery. The aquarists are not yet done sourcing all the species that will be present in the new exhibit, but the species I was able to see included:
  • Mnemiopsis mccradyi (Warty comb jelly)
  • Aurelia aurita (Moon jelly)
  • Cassiopea andromeda (Upside-down jellyfish)
  • Chrysaora plocamia (South American sea nettle)
  • Chrysaora quinquecirrha (Atlantic sea nettle)
The aquarists did mention they are looking to source more species. Some they mentioned included:
  • Chrysaora fuscescens (Pacific sea nettle)
  • Cyanea capillata (Lion's mane jellyfish)
  • Mastigias sp. (Golden jellies)
Click to expand...
This is really great to hear! I genuinely haven’t seen a good few of these species in aquariums on the West Coast, or possibly at all. I’m glad that it feels like they put a good deal of effort into sourcing them, and into the exhibit itself. I’m very hopeful now that whatever refresh they may do on Shark Encounter and other exhibits in the future will be impressive.
 
zoocentral said:
I was fortunate enough to get a tour of Jewels of the Sea: The Jellyfish Experience this week. The exhibit, which opens to the public on March 15, is split into three galleries: Realm of Jellies, The Jellyfish Passage, and Medusa Gallery. The aquarists are not yet done sourcing all the species that will be present in the new exhibit, but the species I was able to see included:
  • Mnemiopsis mccradyi (Warty comb jelly)
  • Aurelia aurita (Moon jelly)
  • Cassiopea andromeda (Upside-down jellyfish)
  • Chrysaora plocamia (South American sea nettle)
  • Chrysaora quinquecirrha (Atlantic sea nettle)
The aquarists did mention they are looking to source more species. Some they mentioned included:
  • Chrysaora fuscescens (Pacific sea nettle)
  • Cyanea capillata (Lion's mane jellyfish)
  • Mastigias sp. (Golden jellies)
Overall I thought the exhibit was quite beautiful. As a standalone exhibit, it fits quite nicely into Ocean Explorer. I can't really compare it to any other jelly exhibits, as I haven't seen that many. What I can say is that it surely is nice to have a new animal attraction at the park, especially one that is dedicated to such a unique animal group. Hopefully this small species list will get people excited about the upcoming exhibit!
Click to expand...
The exhibit opened yesterday and I found this nice walkthrough tour on YouTube that shows the entire thing. Overall, it looks really cool. There's a ton of tanks in the Medusa Gallery I wasn't expecting, if each of those end up having a different species of Jelly in them, it could turn out to be one of the best Jelly focused exhibits in the country.

Also from that video, it looks like the species list includes:
  • Moon Jellies | Aurelia aurita
  • Upside-down Jellies | Cassiopea andromeda
  • Warty Comb Jellies | Mnemiopsis leidyi
  • South American Sea Nettles | Chrysaora plocamia
  • Pacific Sea Nettles | Chrysaora fuscescens
  • Atlantic Sea Nettles | Chrysaora quinquecirrha
  • Purple Striped Nettles (extremely young) | Chrysaora colorata
  • Spotted Lagoon Jellies | Mastigias papua
  • Dwarf Lion's Mane Jellies | Cyanea versicolor
  • Blubber Jellies (Blue, Maroon, and White color variations) | Catostylus mosaicus
Props to Seaworld, this is a fantastic list just for the opening, excited to see how it evolves
 
SeaWorld acquired ownership of two California sea lions on March 24th, 2025 -- 0.2 Phoenix and Isla. Both females were transferred to San Diego from the Oklahoma City Zoo on January 28th, 2023.

Phoenix (listed in the Cali. sea lion studbook as Oklahoma) was born at the Oklahoma City Zoo on June 25th, 2016 to mother Pearl and father Xander, both founders in the California sea lion population.

Isla was rescued by the Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute at approximately 6 months of age on January 30th, 2019, and transferred to the Oklahoma City Zoo on May 14th, 2019.
 
zoologicus said:
SeaWorld acquired ownership of two California sea lions on March 24th, 2025 -- 0.2 Phoenix and Isla. Both females were transferred to San Diego from the Oklahoma City Zoo on January 28th, 2023.

Phoenix (listed in the Cali. sea lion studbook as Oklahoma) was born at the Oklahoma City Zoo on June 25th, 2016 to mother Pearl and father Xander, both founders in the California sea lion population.

Isla was rescued by the Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute at approximately 6 months of age on January 30th, 2019, and transferred to the Oklahoma City Zoo on May 14th, 2019.
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How many types of pinniped do they have now? Fur seal, ribbon seal, harbor, walrus, & California sea lion?
 
yahnih said:
How many fur seals do they now? Does the ringed seal still live at Wild Artic
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I'm glad you ask because I was actually regretting not doing a count in my original reply, so I'll do so for all the pinnipeds now:

California sea lion: 9.6.1
Guadalupe fur seal: 2.1
Harbor seal: 2.3
Pacific walrus: 1.1
Ringed seal: 1.0

As for the ringed seal... I have no idea! I'll let someone more knowledgable answer that one! As far as I'm aware he should still be at WA, but I am not that aware ha
 
zoologicus said:
I'm glad you ask because I was actually regretting not doing a count in my original reply, so I'll do so for all the pinnipeds now:

California sea lion: 9.6.1
Guadalupe fur seal: 2.1
Harbor seal: 2.3
Pacific walrus: 1.1
Ringed seal: 1.0

As for the ringed seal... I have no idea! I'll let someone more knowledgable answer that one! As far as I'm aware he should still be at WA, but I am not that aware ha
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I believe he may be BTS at this point. During my visit last summer he was not on display. WA was only displaying walrus, sea otters, and belugas.
 
zoologicus said:
I'm glad you ask because I was actually regretting not doing a count in my original reply, so I'll do so for all the pinnipeds now:

California sea lion: 9.6.1
Guadalupe fur seal: 2.1
Harbor seal: 2.3
Pacific walrus: 1.1
Ringed seal: 1.0

As for the ringed seal... I have no idea! I'll let someone more knowledgable answer that one! As far as I'm aware he should still be at WA, but I am not that aware ha
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when I visited during September last year, I was told that the Ringed Seal was there, but he spends most of his time in the bts pools. I was told the morning and late afternoon are the best times to see him(sadly he never showed for me however.)
 
I want to report that they have added shade structures over the Dolphin Point exhibit and moved the Humboldt penguins into the old otter exhibit next door. Also, does anyone know if or when they plan on reopening the tide pools in the back of the park? I know the park president said that they want to open them this year.
 
Also, does anyone know why they removed the decorative rockwork inside of the show pool for the orcas around 2011?
 
"]I've never known them to have rocks inside the show pool - only the Dine With Shamu viewing."
That's what I meant
 
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