Animals You've Seen That Few Zoochatters Have Seen

I was looking through some old photos on my iPod and found a picture of a Spotted Ratfish that I took at Aquarium Of The Pacific. Are they rare?
 
I was looking through some old photos on my iPod and found a picture of a Spotted Ratfish that I took at Aquarium Of The Pacific. Are they rare?
No, not particularly. They're held at the largest and most visited US aquariums such as Georgia, Shedd and Monterey as well as some smaller places like Oregon Coast and Seattle Aquarium. They're also present in Europe; not very many places hold the species, but well-known and heavily travelled facilities like Wilhelmia, Berlin Zoo and Lisbon Aquarium have them.
 
No, not particularly. They're held at the largest and most visited US aquariums such as Georgia, Shedd and Monterey as well as some smaller places like Oregon Coast and Seattle Aquarium. They're also present in Europe; not very many places hold the species, but well-known and heavily travelled facilities like Wilhelmia, Berlin Zoo and Lisbon Aquarium have them.

MBA lists Spotted Ratfish as "Not on Exhibit", so assumably they don't have them. I don't ever recall seeing the species there.
 
MBA lists Spotted Ratfish as "Not on Exhibit", so assumably they don't have them. I don't ever recall seeing the species there.

I saw that too, but I visited there when I was 6-8 which was about 2011-2013, so maybe they had them for a little while before they were removed.
 
Updating on my previous posts with invertebrates, fish and a few herps.


Reptiles wise, I’d say the Rusty Monitor and Storrs Monitor are fairly rare, I only know that myself and Voggelcomando have seen these species, not sure if many or even any other Zoochatters have. Spotted Black Snake, Curl Snake, Land Mullet are other notable mentions.

I’d say I’m the only person to see the Australian Chameleon Gecko in captivity on the site (Najade has seen a wild specimen) which is also worth mentioning.

I’m fairly certain I’m the only zoochatter on the site to see a Strap Snouted Brown Snake (Pseudonaja aspidorhyncha).

As for fish there are a lot of species almost non existent in public aquariums and even the marine aquarium trade that are found here in South East Australia, species such as the Blue Throated Wrasse, Senator Wrasse, Common Gurnard Perch, Southern Gurnard Perch, Blue Weed Whiting, Little Weed Whiting, King George Whiting, Banded Stingaree, Melbourne Skate, Southern Rock Cod, Tommy Ruff and more!




Few Zoochatters would have seen these species which are to my knowledge only found at Melbourne Aquarium and potentially some other aquariums in Australia and/or New Zealand.

Sparsely Spotted Stingaree and Australian Ghost Shark are two species I’ve seen in the wild and in captivity that fit into this category, others include Smooth Toadfish, Moonlighter, Globefish and others.

Finally for fish, the Lightning Wrasse and Olive Glassfish both stunning species of fish (no photos unfortunately :(), Ive seen in the pet trade.


Invertebrates, of course there’s plenty of inverts at melbourne museum that not many people have probably seen, as well as the local invertebrate wildlife, animals such as Victorian Hunstmans and Melbourne Trapdoor Spiders, while not rare, are endemic to Victoria which is nice.
 
Is the Guatemalan Beaded Lizard rare? As far as I know, only two zoos in the U.S. have them (Zoo Atlanta & Chehaw) but I’m not sure if there are more zoos in or outside the U.S. that have them in their collection.
 
Is the Guatemalan Beaded Lizard rare? As far as I know, only two zoos in the U.S. have them (Zoo Atlanta & Chehaw) but I’m not sure if there are more zoos in or outside the U.S. that have them in their collection.

Knoxville and Toronto also keep them within the AZA. Aside from that the zoo in Guatemala City is the only other holder I know of.

~Thylo
 
I have seen
Catalina Island Fox (Santa Barbra Zoo and wild)
California Condor (Santa Barbra Zoo, San Diego Zoo, wild)
Bald Ukari (Los Angeles Zoo)
Mountain Tapir (Los Angeles Zoo)
Chinese Giant Salamander (Los Angeles Zoo)
Emporer Penguin (Seaworld SD)
Guadalupe Fur Seal (Seaworld SD)
Pilot Whale (Seaworld SD
Ringed Seal (Seaworld SD)
Commersons Dolphin (Seaworld SD)
Hawaiin Monk Seal (Sea Life Park Oahu)
Wolphin (Sea Life Park Oahu)
Northern White Rhino (SDZSF)
Giant Pandas (SDZ) (I have heard not everyone here has seen them and they aren't common in zoos)
Pronghorn Antelope (Living Desert)
Sand Cat (Living Desert)
Crimson Fronted Parakeet (Wild, Invasive in my town)
Mexican Agouti (Wild)
Mountain Paca (Wild)
Southern Elephant Seal (Wild)
 
I have seen
Catalina Island Fox (Santa Barbra Zoo and wild)
California Condor (Santa Barbra Zoo, San Diego Zoo, wild)
Bald Ukari (Los Angeles Zoo)
Mountain Tapir (Los Angeles Zoo)
Chinese Giant Salamander (Los Angeles Zoo)
Emporer Penguin (Seaworld SD)
Guadalupe Fur Seal (Seaworld SD)
Pilot Whale (Seaworld SD
Ringed Seal (Seaworld SD)
Commersons Dolphin (Seaworld SD)
Hawaiin Monk Seal (Sea Life Park Oahu)
Wolphin (Sea Life Park Oahu)
Northern White Rhino (SDZSF)
Giant Pandas (SDZ) (I have heard not everyone here has seen them and they aren't common in zoos)
Pronghorn Antelope (Living Desert)
Sand Cat (Living Desert)
Crimson Fronted Parakeet (Wild, Invasive in my town)
Mexican Agouti (Wild)
Mountain Paca (Wild)
Southern Elephant Seal (Wild)
I think Giant Panda, Sand Cat, and Pronghorn are a bit of a stretch for this thread.
 
California Condor is on public display at I think only seven facilities, all but two of which are in California. So I'd say it would probably still count. Now a couple of those are highly visited facilities, but at least one also has Pronghorn and til recently the Giant Panda too it's perhaps hard to say. ;)
Yeah, I guess so. I just assumed that California condors were a little more frequent in collections, as Andean condors are.
 
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