@DavidBrown I just happened to see your comment on this photo and here is my review of the 'Wetlands' portion of Florida Aquarium. The text is from my Snowleopard's 2012 Road Trip thread.
Wetlands – A nautilus shell-themed dome roof with 1,100 glass panels arches over the heads of visitors and captive creatures as the pathway winds past river otters, alligators and other denizens of Florida’s wetlands. There are over 30 species of free-flying birds and a plethora of other aquatic wonders in this area, and even the entrance is special as there are two tanks called Florida Waters and Florida Springs. One is set into a mock-rock wall while the other is directly above visitors in the ceiling. Species list: common snapping turtle, bowfin, bluegill, channel catfish, longnose gar, Florida softshell turtle and largemouth bass. All aquariums need entrance areas that are this impressive.
The journey continues with Spring-Fed Streams and Florida Rivers, and the real stars are the trio of river otters and the mid-sized American alligators. These species are across from each other and their exhibits are open to a lot of natural sunlight filtered through the immense glass roof. There is a winding pathway through a large Cypress Swamp zone, and one tank is memorable for having many free-flying birds perched in it (roseate spoonbills and ibis) as well as these 5 species: Suwannee cooter, Barbour’s map turtle, yellow-billed slider, peninsula cooter and Florida red-bellied turtle. Longnose gar and Florida gar swim beneath at least 10 towering trees and the whole habitat is brilliantly designed.
Still in the Wetlands giant greenhouse is a small Florida Amphibians tank with 3 species (greater siren, southern leopard frog, bullfrog); 4 species of free-flying owls that I never saw (eastern screech, barn, barred, great horned); an Air Gardens plant habitat; and a series of Mangrove Forests exhibits with stingrays, crabs and many birds and fish. Other exhibits include one for gopher tortoises; young American crocodiles; brown pelicans, double-breasted cormorants and other seabirds in an awfully tiny environment; and nurse sharks and smaller fish in the same exhibit. My one major complaint for this area is that there are grey, starkly-bleak cement walls everywhere below the animal exhibits, and it resembles some of the 1960’s and ‘70’s architecture from Seattle or New England Aquarium. Why not have mock-rock outcrops, or tree bark edges, or even brown paint to lessen the gloom of the concrete. I know that the animals would not be affected, but visitors would love to have a forested environment along the paths and there is not an immersive feel with the steely grey décor.
@DavidBrown quite a few. I am not great with remembering all the fish, but I will do my best from memory. I am not going to include the Madagascar area as it is kind of separate, even though it is located kind of on top of part of the wetland area.
Reptiles:
American alligator
Florida box turtle
Diamondback terrapin
Alligator snapping turtle
Red eared slider
Gopher tortoise
Softshell turtle (I am not 100% sure they have these still, but they did)
Burmese python
Red ratsnake
Grey ratsnake
Fish: (there are a LOT more than this)
Red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus)
Sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephalus)
Channel catfish
Large mouth bass
Alligator gar
Florida gar
Birds: (they have 24 species in there, but I don't know all of them)
Rosette Spoonbill
Brown pelican
White ibis
Cormorant
Ruddy duck
Tricolored heron
Snowy egret
Fulvous duck
Black-necked stilts (Himantopus mexicanus)
Northern pintail (Anas acuta)
Lesser scaup (Aythyna affinis)
Little blue heron (Egretta caelulea)
@snowleopard perfect, thanks for helping out! Your write up is stilll largely accurate. The one area that changed is this part:
young American crocodiles; brown pelicans, double-breasted cormorants and other seabirds in an awfully tiny environment; and nurse sharks and smaller fish in the same exhibit.
They no longer hold crocs (at least not on display), the seabirds are still in there but I don't think nurse sharks are in that display, now it is gars IIRC.
Is it weird that this aquarium does not have manatees? If any aquarium in the world was going to have manatees, one might expect them at a place called the Florida Aquarium.
@DavidBrown there was talk at one time, but it never came to anything. But I totally agree. While i am excited for the sea lions and better penguin habitat, I think manatees would have been a better use of space and fit the theme better.
