On October 8, Mote Science Education Aquarium (or Mote SEA) opened its doors to the public. Just a week later, I had the chance to visit the new facility, and I have to say, I'm impressed. The aquarium is pretty unique: there's a strong emphasis on display and basic information, but there's also a strong emphasis on the process of research and conservation that I haven't seen at many other public aquariums. The building also appears to be on the smaller side from outside, and I'm impressed by the actual use of the space.
Before I get into it, I want to give a couple disclaimers. First of all, this is my first species list, and in general you should take aquarium species lists with a grain of salt (since more secretive animals are often missed no matter how closely you examine each exhibit). I should note that I've never actually visited the old City Island campus, so I can't necessarily make any comparisons to the old campus. I also want to make a note about the signage: it's a bit of a mess. I guess I had assumed a new aquarium wouldn't yet go through the troubles of having to replace old, physical signage due to losses of animals over the years or recent species acquisitions, but even with overwhelmingly electronic signage, that did not end up being the case. All species included in this list were personally observed. I also want to make the disclaimer that corals are not my strongest point in identification, and while I've made a considerable effort to use a mixture of online resources (including Mote's own website) and multiple reference photos of the exhibits with live corals, I am always happy to discuss ID's further with anyone interested.
So without further ado, welcome to Mote Science Education Aquarium. The aquarium itself is three stories, with an escalator in the main lobby taking visitors straight up to the third floor and allowing them to work their way downstairs. That was the order in which I approached my visit (and this list), though there is a considerable amount of choice that guests have in the order of exhibits they see.
The Third Floor
The third floor starts off featuring an observation deck. At the moment, I must say while I appreciate the sentiment, this may not be the best location for such a feature. The aquarium itself is rather close to an outdoor mall, and Nathan Benderson Park surrounding it is heavily developed. Ponds are artificial and the only visible plants are lawn grasses and a few sparse non-native palms. That said, I was still able to spot a wild osprey (Pandion haliaetus) and tricolored heron (Egretta tricolor) during the visit. And of course, that landscaping is not necessarily the fault of the aquarium, as the aquarium is still incredibly new and those choices extend well beyond the property line of the aquarium.
Florida's Waters
This is the other outdoor section of the aquarium. Though not overly immersive, it is quite spacious both for guests and animals. There is not a whole lot of foliage in the habitats (real or fake), and that is something I hope to see in the future.
Conservation Lab
The conservation lab is a highlight on jellyfish conservation at the aquarium. There are 12 grow-out tanks for jellies at the aquarium, as well as 3 stock tanks for the brine shrimp used to feet them. The lab is interesting from the research side. I was able to identify the following species:
The Second Floor
Moving downstairs to the second floor, the majority of this floor is themed towards the Pacific Ocean, featuring animals from both the east and west sides. Right at the base of the stairs is a spacious exhibit for Humboldt penguins, a species I don't believe lives at any other facilities in Florida (as the climate is often more favorable for outdoor exhibits to feature African penguins). This kicks off a series of East Pacific exhibits, and this is also where the signage unfortunately gets messy. As an example, there were around 15 species listed in the sign for 'Kelp Forest,' of which only 5 species were observed and a 6th (Canary rockfish) was unsigned. Besides that, however, all of the habitats in this part of the aquarium do a decent job of replicating natural environments in the East Pacific.
'Humboldt Penguins'
'Shark Encounter'
'Florida Keys Reef'
Finally, we have reached the ground floor, featuring amenities like a small coffee stand, a gift shop, a classroom, and an event space. The live exhibits on this floor, Gulf Coast, are focused exclusively on Florida's saltwater habitats. Having lived in Florida, I can't help but how my appreciation for how well the exhibits captured its marine environments (though there are a couple species here and there that were clearly thrown in as crowd pleasers).
'Local Creeks'
Before I get into it, I want to give a couple disclaimers. First of all, this is my first species list, and in general you should take aquarium species lists with a grain of salt (since more secretive animals are often missed no matter how closely you examine each exhibit). I should note that I've never actually visited the old City Island campus, so I can't necessarily make any comparisons to the old campus. I also want to make a note about the signage: it's a bit of a mess. I guess I had assumed a new aquarium wouldn't yet go through the troubles of having to replace old, physical signage due to losses of animals over the years or recent species acquisitions, but even with overwhelmingly electronic signage, that did not end up being the case. All species included in this list were personally observed. I also want to make the disclaimer that corals are not my strongest point in identification, and while I've made a considerable effort to use a mixture of online resources (including Mote's own website) and multiple reference photos of the exhibits with live corals, I am always happy to discuss ID's further with anyone interested.
So without further ado, welcome to Mote Science Education Aquarium. The aquarium itself is three stories, with an escalator in the main lobby taking visitors straight up to the third floor and allowing them to work their way downstairs. That was the order in which I approached my visit (and this list), though there is a considerable amount of choice that guests have in the order of exhibits they see.
The Third Floor
The third floor starts off featuring an observation deck. At the moment, I must say while I appreciate the sentiment, this may not be the best location for such a feature. The aquarium itself is rather close to an outdoor mall, and Nathan Benderson Park surrounding it is heavily developed. Ponds are artificial and the only visible plants are lawn grasses and a few sparse non-native palms. That said, I was still able to spot a wild osprey (Pandion haliaetus) and tricolored heron (Egretta tricolor) during the visit. And of course, that landscaping is not necessarily the fault of the aquarium, as the aquarium is still incredibly new and those choices extend well beyond the property line of the aquarium.
Florida's Waters
This is the other outdoor section of the aquarium. Though not overly immersive, it is quite spacious both for guests and animals. There is not a whole lot of foliage in the habitats (real or fake), and that is something I hope to see in the future.
- Northern river otter (Lontra canadensis)
- Alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii)
- Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris)
- American flagfish (Jordanella floridae)
- Sailfin molly (Poecilia latipinna)
- Diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin)
- Gulf killifish (Fundulus grandis)
Conservation Lab
The conservation lab is a highlight on jellyfish conservation at the aquarium. There are 12 grow-out tanks for jellies at the aquarium, as well as 3 stock tanks for the brine shrimp used to feet them. The lab is interesting from the research side. I was able to identify the following species:
- Brine shrimp (Artemia spp.)
- Moon jelly (Aurelia aurita)
- Spotted lagoon jelly (Mastigias papua)
The Second Floor
Moving downstairs to the second floor, the majority of this floor is themed towards the Pacific Ocean, featuring animals from both the east and west sides. Right at the base of the stairs is a spacious exhibit for Humboldt penguins, a species I don't believe lives at any other facilities in Florida (as the climate is often more favorable for outdoor exhibits to feature African penguins). This kicks off a series of East Pacific exhibits, and this is also where the signage unfortunately gets messy. As an example, there were around 15 species listed in the sign for 'Kelp Forest,' of which only 5 species were observed and a 6th (Canary rockfish) was unsigned. Besides that, however, all of the habitats in this part of the aquarium do a decent job of replicating natural environments in the East Pacific.
'Humboldt Penguins'
- Humboldt penguin (Spheniscus humboldtii)
- Swell shark (Cephaloscyllium ventriosum)
- Blacksmith (Chromis punctipinnis)
- Señorita wrasse (Oxyjulis californica)
- Black rockfish (Sebastes melanops)
- Canary rockfish (Sebastes pinniger)
- Kelp greenling (Hexagrammos decagrammus)
- Giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini)
- Sheep crab (Loxorhynchus grandis)
- Dungeness crab (Metacarcinus magister)
- Pacific sea nettle (Chrysaora fuscescens)
- Painted anemone (Urticina grebelnyi)
- White-spotted anemone (Urticina lofotensis)
- California bat star (Patiria miniata)
- Slate pencil urchin (Eucidaris thouarsii)
- Red sea urchin (Mesocentrotus franciscanus)
- Purple sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus)
- California spot prawn (Pandalus platyceros)
- Mottled sea star (Evasterias troschelii)
- Rainbow sea star (Orthasterias koehleri)
- Ochre sea star (Pisaster ochraceus)
- California bat star (Patiria miniata)
- Leather star (Dermasterias imbricata)
- Vermilion star (Mediaster aequalis)
- Strawberry anemone (Corynactis californica)
- Norris's topsnail (Norrisia norrisii)
- Lined chiton (Tonicella lineata)
- California spot prawn (Pandalus platyceros)
- Ochre sea star (Pisaster ochraceus)
- California sea cucumber (Apostichopus californicus)
'Shark Encounter'
- Brownbanded bambooshark (Chiloscyllium punctatum)
- Epaulette shark (Hemiscyllium ocellatum)
- Coral catshark (Atelomycterus marmoratus)
- Leathery soft coral (Sarcophyton sp.)
- Finger leather coral (Sinularia sp.)
- Green star polyp (Briareum violacea)
- Mushroom coral (Rhodactis sp.)
- Green slimer coral (Acropora yongei)
- Leaf plate coral (Montipora capricornis)
- Finger coral (Montipora digitata)
- Yellow cup coral (Turbinaria peltata)
- Crescent coral (Euphyllia ancora)
- Branching frogspawn coral (Euphyllia paradivisa)
- Acan Lord Howe coral (Micromussa lordhowensis)
- Candycane coral (Caulastrea furcata)
- Green birdnest coral (Seriatopora hystrix)
- Long-spined urchin (Diadema antillarum)
- Banggai cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni)
- Pajama cardinalfish (Sphaeramia nematoptera)
- Ocellaris clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris)
- Convict tang (Acanthurus triostegus)
- Blue-eyed kole tang (Ctenochaetus binotatus)
- Regal tang (Paracanthurus hepatus)
- Yellow tang (Zebrasoma flavescens)
- Pyramid butterflyfish (Hemitaurichthys polylepis)
- Blackspot angelfish (Genicanthus watanabei)
- Honeycomb rabbitfish (Siganus stellatus)
- Sea goldie (Pseudanthias squamipinnis)
- Purple queen (Pseudanthias tuka)
- Blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus)
- Honeycomb ray (Himantura uarnak)
- Bluespotted ribbontail ray (Taeniura lymma)
- Blotched fantail ray (Taeniurops meyeni)
- Sabre squirrelfish (Sargocentron spiniferum)
- Goldsaddle goatfish (Parupeneus cyclostomus)
- Eyestripe surgeonfish (Acanthurus dussumieri)
- Orange-shouldered tang (Acanthurus olivaceus)
- Chocolate tang (Acanthurus pyroferus)
- Spotted unicornfish (Naso brevirostris)
- Blonde naso tang (Naso elegans)
- Naso tang (Naso lituratus)
- Humpnose unicornfish (Naso tonganus)
- Bluespine unicornfish (Naso unicornis)
- Bignose unicornfish (Naso vlamingii)
- Regal tang (Paracanthurus hepatus)
- Koran angelfish (Pomacanthus semicirculatus)
- Blueface angelfish (Pomacanthus xanthometopon)
- Blueline rabbitfish (Siganus puellus)
- Foxface (Siganus vulpinus)
- Lagoon triggerfish (Rhinecanthus aculeatus)
- Map puffer (Arothron mappa)
- Redbelly yellowtail fusilier (Caesio cuning)
- Doubleband fusilier (Pterocaesio digramma)
- Oriental sweetlips (Plectorhinchus vittatus)
- Red-breasted wrasse (Cheilinus fasciatus)
- Humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus)
- Bird wrasse (Gomphosus varius)
- Humpback red snapper (Lutjanus gibbus)
- Bluestripe snapper (Lutjanus kasmira)
- Emperor red snapper (Lutjanus sebae)
- Bridled parrotfish (Scarus frenatus)
- Coral hind (Cephalopholis miniata)
- Spotted lagoon jelly (Mastigias papua)
- Green chromis (Chromis viridis)
- Azure damselfish (Chrysiptera hemicyanea)
- Three-striped damselfish (Dascyllus aruanus)
- Lined surgeonfish (Acanthurus lineatus)
- Dot and dash butterflyfish (Chaetodon pelewensis)
- Latticed butterflyfish (Chaetodon rafflesii)
- Pacific double-saddled butterflyfish (Chaetodon ulietensis)
- Scribbled angelfish (Chaetodontoplus duboulayi)
- Blueface angelfish (Pomacanthus xanthometopon)
- Stripey (Microcanthus strigatus)
- Chocolate chip sea star (Protoreaster nodosus)
- Slate pencil urchin (Eucidaris tribuloides)
- Spotted garden eel (Heteroconger hassi)
- Shrimpfish (Aeoliscus strigatus)
- Threadfin cardinalfish (Zoramia leptacantha)
- Fire goby (Nemateleotris magnifica)
- Valentini puffer (Canthigaster valentini)
- Maze coral (Meandrina meandrites)
- Great star coral (Montastraea cavernosa)
- Thin finger coral (Porites furcata)
- Lightfoot snail (Lithopoma tectum)
- Maze coral (Meandrina meandrites)
- Lightfoot snail (Lithopoma tectum)
'Florida Keys Reef'
- Angular sea whip (Pterogorgia anceps)
- Bent sea rod (Eunicea flexuosa)
- Dichotomous sea rod (Plexaurella dichotoma)
- Black sea rod (Plexaurella homomalla)
- Corky sea fingers (Briareum asbestinum)
- Encrusting gorgonian (Erythropodium caribaeorum)
- Red beaded anemone (Phymanthus crucifer)
- Emerald false coral (Ricordea floridana)
- Blushing star coral (Stephanocoenia intersepta)
- Mountainous star coral (Orbicella faveolata)
- Franks's star coral (Orbicella franksi)
- Great star coral (Montastraea cavernosa)
- Spiny flower coral (Mussa angulosa)
- Symmetrical brain coral (Pseudodiploria strigosa)
- Artichoke coral (Scolymia cubensis)
- Mustard hill coral (Porites astreoides)
- Lesser starlet coral (Siderastrea radians)
- Massive starlet coral (Siderastrea siderea)
- Golden colonial anemone (Palythoa caribaeorum)
- Mat anemone (Zoanthus pulchellus)
- Long-spined urchin (Diadema antillarum)
- Royal gramma (Gramma loreto)
- Blue chromis (Azurina cyanea)
- Brown chromis (Azurina multilineata)
- Sunshinefish (Chromis insolata)
- Yellowtail damselfish (Microspathodon chrysurus)
- Doctorfish (Acanthurus chirurgus)
- Atlantic blue tang (Acanthurus coeruleus)
- Ocean surgeonfish (Acanthurus tractus)
- Redspotted hawkfish (Amblycirrhitus pinos)
- Butter hamlet (Hypoplectrus unicolor)
- Harlequin bass (Serranus tigrinus)
- Red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) (juveniles)
- Red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle)
- Common snook (Centropomus undecimalis) (juveniles)
Finally, we have reached the ground floor, featuring amenities like a small coffee stand, a gift shop, a classroom, and an event space. The live exhibits on this floor, Gulf Coast, are focused exclusively on Florida's saltwater habitats. Having lived in Florida, I can't help but how my appreciation for how well the exhibits captured its marine environments (though there are a couple species here and there that were clearly thrown in as crowd pleasers).
'Local Creeks'
- Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus)
- Common snook (Centropomus undecimalis)
- Queen angelfish (Holacanthus ciliaris)
- Gray angelfish (Pomacanthus arcuatus)
- Longspine porcupinefish (Diodon holocanthus)
- Planehead filefish (Stephanolepis hispida)
- Scrawled cowfish (Acanthostracion quadricornis)
- Bandtail puffer (Sphoeroides spengleri)
- Tomtate (Haemulon aurolineatum)
- Cottonwick (Haemulon melanurum)
- Coney (Cephalopholis fulva)
- Moon jelly (Aurelia aurita)
- Atlantic guitarfish (Pseudobatos lentiginosus)
- Atlantic stingray (Hypanus sabinus)
- Cownose ray (Rhinoptera bonasus)
- Caribbean reef octopus (Octopus briareus)
- Brown shrimp (Farfantepenaeus aztecus)
- Lined seahorse (Hippocampus erectus)
- Masked goby (Coryphopterus personatus)
- Neon goby (Elacatinus oceanops)
- Royal gramma (Gramma loreto)
- Reef butterflyfish (Chaetodon sedentarius)
- Longsnout butterflyfish (Prognathodes aculeatus)
- Cherubfish (Centropyge argi)
- Lantern bass (Serranus baldwini)
- Belted sandfish (Serranus subligarius)
- Chalk bass (Serranus tortugarum)
- Atlantic horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus)
- Lightning whelk (Busycon contrarium)
- Atlantic horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus)
- Ridged slipper lobster (Scyllarides nodifer)
- Atlantic deer cowrie (Macrocypraea cervus)
- Banded tulip snail (Fasciolaria hunteria)
- Caribbean spiny sea star (Echinaster sentus)
- Slate pencil urchin (Eucidaris tribuloides)
- Variegated sea urchin (Lytechinus variegatus)
- Florida sea cucumber (Holothuria floridana)
- Atlantic deer cowrie (Macrocypraea cervus)
- Caribbean spiny sea star (Echinaster sentus)
- Cushion star (Oreaster reticulatus)
- Slate pencil urchin (Eucidaris tribuloides)
- Variegated sea urchin (Lytechinus variegatus)
- Giant hermit crab (Petrochirus diogenes)
- Gulf toadfish (Opsanus beta)
- Red lionfish (Pterois volitans)
- Giant isopod (Bathynomus giganteus)
- Nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum)
- Blacknose shark (Carcharhinus acronotus)
- Sandbar shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus)
- Bonnethead shark (Sphyrna tiburo)
- Southern stingray (Hypanus americanus)
- Longspine squirrelfish (Holocentrus rufus)
- Blackbar soldierfish (Myripristis jacobus)
- Yellow goatfish (Mulloidichthys martinicus)
- Blue runner (Caranx crysos)
- Horse-eye jack (Caranx latus)
- Round scad (Decapterus punctatus)
- Doctorfish (Acanthurus chirurgus)
- Atlantic blue tang (Acanthurus coeruleus)
- Ocean surgeonfish (Acanthurus tractus)
- Black durgon (Melichthys niger)
- Spotfin porcupinefish (Diodon hystrix)
- Bermuda chub (Kyphosus sectatrix)
- Porkfish (Anisotremus virginicus)
- Smallmouth grunt (Brachygenys chrysargyreum)
- French grunt (Haemulon flavolineatum)
- Cottonwick (Haemulon melanurum)
- White grunt (Haemulon plumieri)
- Bluestripe grunt (Haemulon sciurus)
- Spanish hogfish (Bodianus rufus)
- Hogfish (Lachnolaimus maximus)
- Yellowtail snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus)
- Midnight parrotfish (Scarus coelestinus)
- Blue parrotfish (Scarus coeruleus)
- Rainbow parrotfish (Scarus guacamaia)
- Stoplight parrotfish (Sparisoma viride)
- Sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephalus)
- Saucereye porgy (Calamus calamus)
- Spottail pinfish (Diplodus holbrooki)
- Rock hind (Epinephelus adscensionis)
