On Saturday, I went to Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, CT. I’ve been here before and I always enjoy it. It is a beautiful aquarium and home to many beautiful animals. This is my first review of a zoo/aquarium and I hope it is okay.
The first thing I did when I went was go to Arctic Coast, the beluga exhibit. This is one of the largest beluga exhibits in North America and is home to the only belugas in New England. The exhibit is home to 3 adult belugas: Kela, Naku, and Juno. The whales are always active and swimming around. I love this exhibit because it’s pretty large, and the whales can be very curious sometimes, interacting with visitors from the other side of the large glass viewing. Juno the whale is famous from a viral video where he dances to mariachi. If you don’t believe me, go on YouTube and type in “Mariachi Connecticut Serenades a Beluga Whale”.
After the beluga exhibit, I chose to go to the indoor exhibits. There are plenty of indoor exhibits. One is Shark Encounters, where you can pet White-Spotted Bamboo Sharks as they glide by. Shark Lagoon is home to Blacknose Sharks, Nurse Sharks, and Whitetip Reef Sharks that are simply awesome. Stingray Bay is home to Cownose, Atlantic, and Southern Stingrays, along with Charlotte the Green Sea Turtle. Charlotte was found stranded and deemed non-releasable. Now, she resides with the stingrays. Hidden Amazon features the animals of the Amazon River like Red-Bellied Piranhas, Poison-Dart Frogs, Spotted Freshwater Stingrays, an Electric Eel, and a Green Iguana. Coral Reef is home to many tropical fish in 30,000 gallons of water. For example, there are Burrfish, clownfish, blue tangs, and many more beautiful fish. The Barracuda and Moray Eel exhibit has Barracuda, Purplemouth Moray Eels, and Green Moray Eels.
The Ray Touch Pool is in between the beluga exhibit and the indoor exhibits. It is where Cownose Rays glide around and will actually come up to you and beg to be petted. Moving on, the next exhibit after the belugas is Pacific Northwest. That is where the aquarium’s Steller Sea Lions reside. The first habitat in Pacific Northwest is for Rocky the old Pacific Harbor Seal, and 5 Steller Sea Lions: Astro, Juneau, Little Angel, Eden, and Mara. The second is for Kodiak, the huge male Steller Sea Lion. I love these exhibits because the sea lions are always swimming and playing, and if you’re lucky, you’ll hear them roar.
After the Steller Sea Lions, you go on a boardwalk called Marsh Trek that overlooks a pond that explains the diversity of life in freshwater environments. It has frogs, turtles, fish, insects, and occasionally wild birds like ducks. Soon, you come across two paths. If you go to the one that leads to the right, you’ll find yourself at the Roger Tory Peterson Penguin Pavilion. This exhibit is home to over 25 African Penguins. This exhibit has above-water viewing outside, and underwater viewing in a building. The penguins will interact on the rocks, and then go for a swim, unless it’s hot out, in which they’ll just stand or lay down. Not far from the penguins is the Gurdon and Kathy Wattles Marine Mammal Observatory. When I went, this exhibit housed a group of Atlantic Harbor Seals (even though the map said 2 California Sea Lion pups are here). I’m not sure if they’re there for rehabilitation purposes or if they’re there temporary housing, but they were nice to watch. Unfortunately, the viewing area is from kind of far from the pool, plus it gets very crowded, so it’s not easy to get good viewing.
Once you leave that area, you go through the rest of Marsh Trek. Once you get off the boardwalk, the seasonal Birds of the Outback exhibit. This is a free-flight exhibit, and to enter the exhibit there is a 3 dollar entry fee. After paying, you get a popsicle stick with seeds on it. The hundreds of Budgerigars, Cockatiels, and Eastern Rosellas in the exhibit will eat these seeds and they might perch on your stick, or might even perch on you! After exiting the exhibit, the Seal Rescue Clinic is just across the path. The Seal Rescue Clinic isn’t really open to the public but there is a window that allows you to see into a holding pool for any seals that are being rehabilitated. If the seals are successfully rehabilitated, they are released on Blue Shutters Beach in Charleston, Rhode Island. Currently, there is a male Atlantic Harbor Seal being rehabilitated.
The last exhibit is one of the most entertaining. Marine Theater is where the aquarium’s 4 male California Sea Lions (Coco, Surfer, Boomerang, and Jetty) perform shows daily. The shows feature the natural behaviors such as barking and roaring, plus more fun ones like jumping from the air and even dancing. The sea lions are always fun to watch, and they seem to enjoy performing. It is also educational about California Sea Lions.
To sum it up, Mystic Aquarium is an awesome aquarium that is fun and educational. It’s no wonder it is one of America’s leading aquariums.
The first thing I did when I went was go to Arctic Coast, the beluga exhibit. This is one of the largest beluga exhibits in North America and is home to the only belugas in New England. The exhibit is home to 3 adult belugas: Kela, Naku, and Juno. The whales are always active and swimming around. I love this exhibit because it’s pretty large, and the whales can be very curious sometimes, interacting with visitors from the other side of the large glass viewing. Juno the whale is famous from a viral video where he dances to mariachi. If you don’t believe me, go on YouTube and type in “Mariachi Connecticut Serenades a Beluga Whale”.
After the beluga exhibit, I chose to go to the indoor exhibits. There are plenty of indoor exhibits. One is Shark Encounters, where you can pet White-Spotted Bamboo Sharks as they glide by. Shark Lagoon is home to Blacknose Sharks, Nurse Sharks, and Whitetip Reef Sharks that are simply awesome. Stingray Bay is home to Cownose, Atlantic, and Southern Stingrays, along with Charlotte the Green Sea Turtle. Charlotte was found stranded and deemed non-releasable. Now, she resides with the stingrays. Hidden Amazon features the animals of the Amazon River like Red-Bellied Piranhas, Poison-Dart Frogs, Spotted Freshwater Stingrays, an Electric Eel, and a Green Iguana. Coral Reef is home to many tropical fish in 30,000 gallons of water. For example, there are Burrfish, clownfish, blue tangs, and many more beautiful fish. The Barracuda and Moray Eel exhibit has Barracuda, Purplemouth Moray Eels, and Green Moray Eels.
The Ray Touch Pool is in between the beluga exhibit and the indoor exhibits. It is where Cownose Rays glide around and will actually come up to you and beg to be petted. Moving on, the next exhibit after the belugas is Pacific Northwest. That is where the aquarium’s Steller Sea Lions reside. The first habitat in Pacific Northwest is for Rocky the old Pacific Harbor Seal, and 5 Steller Sea Lions: Astro, Juneau, Little Angel, Eden, and Mara. The second is for Kodiak, the huge male Steller Sea Lion. I love these exhibits because the sea lions are always swimming and playing, and if you’re lucky, you’ll hear them roar.
After the Steller Sea Lions, you go on a boardwalk called Marsh Trek that overlooks a pond that explains the diversity of life in freshwater environments. It has frogs, turtles, fish, insects, and occasionally wild birds like ducks. Soon, you come across two paths. If you go to the one that leads to the right, you’ll find yourself at the Roger Tory Peterson Penguin Pavilion. This exhibit is home to over 25 African Penguins. This exhibit has above-water viewing outside, and underwater viewing in a building. The penguins will interact on the rocks, and then go for a swim, unless it’s hot out, in which they’ll just stand or lay down. Not far from the penguins is the Gurdon and Kathy Wattles Marine Mammal Observatory. When I went, this exhibit housed a group of Atlantic Harbor Seals (even though the map said 2 California Sea Lion pups are here). I’m not sure if they’re there for rehabilitation purposes or if they’re there temporary housing, but they were nice to watch. Unfortunately, the viewing area is from kind of far from the pool, plus it gets very crowded, so it’s not easy to get good viewing.
Once you leave that area, you go through the rest of Marsh Trek. Once you get off the boardwalk, the seasonal Birds of the Outback exhibit. This is a free-flight exhibit, and to enter the exhibit there is a 3 dollar entry fee. After paying, you get a popsicle stick with seeds on it. The hundreds of Budgerigars, Cockatiels, and Eastern Rosellas in the exhibit will eat these seeds and they might perch on your stick, or might even perch on you! After exiting the exhibit, the Seal Rescue Clinic is just across the path. The Seal Rescue Clinic isn’t really open to the public but there is a window that allows you to see into a holding pool for any seals that are being rehabilitated. If the seals are successfully rehabilitated, they are released on Blue Shutters Beach in Charleston, Rhode Island. Currently, there is a male Atlantic Harbor Seal being rehabilitated.
The last exhibit is one of the most entertaining. Marine Theater is where the aquarium’s 4 male California Sea Lions (Coco, Surfer, Boomerang, and Jetty) perform shows daily. The shows feature the natural behaviors such as barking and roaring, plus more fun ones like jumping from the air and even dancing. The sea lions are always fun to watch, and they seem to enjoy performing. It is also educational about California Sea Lions.
To sum it up, Mystic Aquarium is an awesome aquarium that is fun and educational. It’s no wonder it is one of America’s leading aquariums.
