Monterey Bay Aquarium Major deep sea animal exhibit coming to MBA

Goblin sharks have been kept in captivity.
shows a goblin shark and a frilled Shark at Hakkeijima Sea Paradise in Yokohama, Japan.

The video only showed Goblin Shark, though at least two in the tank. Also what appeared to be a dead one upside-down on the floor. I wonder what the duration on these were? One dead, and another showed lesions in the upclose footage. Very interesting though.

[Video was posted 6 years ago for reference]
 
If anyone watches the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Twitch/Youtube gaming streams, they've talked about the new exhibit a bit, as well as the difficulties with keeping benthic animals in captivity. One of the biggest obstacles has been and continues to be water oxygenation: most deep-sea creatures have no air pockets in their bodies, so barometric pressure is not much of an issue after the animal has been safely brought up to the surface, but they do live in a very cold, low-oxygen environment, and removing oxygen from water at sea level is very, very difficult. They have also given some clues about what will be on display. It seems that bloodybelly comb jellies, sea pigs, giant isopods, vampire squids, thermophilic tube worms, chimaeras, umbrella octopuses, chambered nautiluses, and several others are distinct possibilities. They also indicate an estimated opening in 2022-2023.

Personally, I would love to see giant oarfishes, Humboldt squids, Greenland sharks, goblin sharks, and giant squids, but I very much doubt any of those will ever happen, anywhere in the world. But who knows?
What kind of games does an aquarium play?
 
If anyone watches the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Twitch/Youtube gaming streams, they've talked about the new exhibit a bit, as well as the difficulties with keeping benthic animals in captivity. One of the biggest obstacles has been and continues to be water oxygenation: most deep-sea creatures have no air pockets in their bodies, so barometric pressure is not much of an issue after the animal has been safely brought up to the surface, but they do live in a very cold, low-oxygen environment, and removing oxygen from water at sea level is very, very difficult. They have also given some clues about what will be on display. It seems that bloodybelly comb jellies, sea pigs, giant isopods, vampire squids, thermophilic tube worms, chimaeras, umbrella octopuses, chambered nautiluses, and several others are distinct possibilities. They also indicate an estimated opening in 2022-2023.

Personally, I would love to see giant oarfishes, Humboldt squids, Greenland sharks, goblin sharks, and giant squids, but I very much doubt any of those will ever happen, anywhere in the world. But who knows?

Japanese aquariums have tried and failed to keep goblin sharks alive on a yearly or multi-yearly basis. However, the animals were often acquired as bycatch from fishermen, so perhaps they were already injured.
 
@birdsandbats

The Monterey Bay Aquarium plays Animal Crossing and Abzu, and has also "participated" (really more commenting on the accuracy of the games) in speedruns of other ocean-themed games before
 
If anyone watches the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Twitch/Youtube gaming streams, they've talked about the new exhibit a bit, as well as the difficulties with keeping benthic animals in captivity. One of the biggest obstacles has been and continues to be water oxygenation: most deep-sea creatures have no air pockets in their bodies, so barometric pressure is not much of an issue after the animal has been safely brought up to the surface, but they do live in a very cold, low-oxygen environment, and removing oxygen from water at sea level is very, very difficult. They have also given some clues about what will be on display. It seems that bloodybelly comb jellies, sea pigs, giant isopods, vampire squids, thermophilic tube worms, chimaeras, umbrella octopuses, chambered nautiluses, and several others are distinct possibilities. They also indicate an estimated opening in 2022-2023.

Personally, I would love to see giant oarfishes, Humboldt squids, Greenland sharks, goblin sharks, and giant squids, but I very much doubt any of those will ever happen, anywhere in the world. But who knows?
They're getting vampire squid and umbrella octopus again!? So happy they're getting those species back. Tube worms and sea pigs will be amazing, have sea pigs been kept before? I know other deep-sea sea cucumbers have been kept and I imagine the care of sea pigs wouldn't be too much different. Did they specifically mention what species of chimaera? (I don't want to get my hopes up just for it to turn out to be the spotted ratfish!) Humboldt and giant squids in captivity is more than a little unrealistic, but goblin sharks have been kept at several Japanese aquariums (none lasted more than three days as far as I know). I'm hoping for the barreleye (was actually discovered by MBARI, right near the aquarium in Monterey Canyon), but I imagine the fragile nature of it's skull dome could cause issues.
 
They're getting vampire squid and umbrella octopus again!? So happy they're getting those species back. Tube worms and sea pigs will be amazing, have sea pigs been kept before? I know other deep-sea sea cucumbers have been kept and I imagine the care of sea pigs wouldn't be too much different. Did they specifically mention what species of chimaera? (I don't want to get my hopes up just for it to turn out to be the spotted ratfish!) Humboldt and giant squids in captivity is more than a little unrealistic, but goblin sharks have been kept at several Japanese aquariums (none lasted more than three days as far as I know). I'm hoping for the barreleye (was actually discovered by MBARI, right near the aquarium in Monterey Canyon), but I imagine the fragile nature of it's skull dome could cause issues.

Unfortunately they did not outright confirm any individual species that will 100% be displayed, but many of the above creatures are found in Abzu/Animal Crossing and were talked about as they encountered them in-game, and how they might feature into an aquarium space. I do know for a fact that they keep or have kept giant isopods, umbrella octopuses, and vampire squids in the past, and that MBARI is definitely working with deep-sea brittle stars and bloodybelly comb jellies at their facility right now, though. There were photos posted on their social media pages about that. But we probably won’t know much more about the full extent of the species on display until we’re much closer to 2022.
 
It would be cool to find a species list from the 1999 Monterey deep sea exhibit. All I remember from it were tumbleweed anemone, eelpout, and a deep sea species of cat shark. That species list may serve as a hint of what may be to come.

And here is a press release I just found with some details of the 1999 exhibit:

News from Zoos

"Mysteries of the Deep", open March 1999 through January 6, 2002 at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, will introduce visitors to residents of Earth's largest habitat- the dark, cold ocean waters that make up 80% of the living space on our planet. Some 40 to 60 species, collected from depths as great as 3,300 feet, will be on display. Most have never been seen in any aquarium. Visitors will meet mushroom corals, predatory tunicates, sea whips, spider crabs, catsharks, ratfish, feather stars, eelpouts, Pacific hagfish and California king crabs, along with dozens of others. Some will be part of multi-species exhibits that showcase the grace and beauty of these unusual (and surprisingly colorful) animals. Because it is so difficult to collect and care for these animals, no other aquarium is expected to create a similar exhibit in the foreseeable future. Researchers will have an unusual opportunity to study these rarely seen dwellers of the deep.
Visitors will take a tour of the Monterey submarine canyon, an underwater chasm off California's central coast. The canyon reaches depths of over two miles; within Monterey Bay, it is about a mile deep from rim to coast. The canyon reaches depths of over two miles; within Monterey Bay, it is about a mile deep from rim to floor- as deep and as steep as the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Unprecedented live exhibits, videos and hands-on displays will carry visitors through three major deep sea habitats: vertical canyon walls; the midwater, a dark ocean realm with no solid surfaces; and the sea floor. A fourth exhibit gallery will explore the ways that people are using deep sea resources, and the impacts we're having on the health of deep ocean ecosystems. The aquarium will also debut an expanded daily program of live video broadcasts from deep sea robot research subs as they explore the Monterey submarine canyon. Also part of the exhibit will be a deep sea craft room for kids, and an exhibit of scientific illustrations made in the 1930s during William Beebe's pioneering dives in a bathysphere off the island of Bermuda.
 
I don't think any of the animals mentioned so far have ever been kept in captivity.
Sorry for replying to an old comment, but some of the species mentioned have been kept. Giant spider crabs, nautilus and salmon snailfish have been kept.
 
Sorry for replying to an old comment, but some of the species mentioned have been kept. Giant spider crabs, nautilus and salmon snailfish have been kept.
I don't remeber seeing anything about nautilus or Giant Spider Crab (I know those are kept in captivity, I've seen both of them), but where have Salmon Snailfish been kept?
 
I don't remeber seeing anything about nautilus or Giant Spider Crab (I know those are kept in captivity, I've seen both of them), but where have Salmon Snailfish been kept?

Japanese Spider Crabs are mentioned in the official article, see the part I quoted below.

"Our Animal Care team is advancing the science of caring for deep-ocean animals, from delicate bloodybelly comb jellies to gangly Japanese spider crabs. They’re making nighttime blackwater dives and using MBARI submersibles to collect species we’ve never exhibited before. They’re perfecting techniques for raising bone-eating worms that feast on the skeletons of sunken whales.

The exhibition will feature these and other incredible animals — as well as the innovative tools scientists and engineers use to explore the deep and to measure impacts from threats like plastic pollution and climate change."

Given MBA currently displays and has bred nautilus I think they are likely as well.
 
Japanese Spider Crabs are mentioned in the official article, see the part I quoted below.

"Our Animal Care team is advancing the science of caring for deep-ocean animals, from delicate bloodybelly comb jellies to gangly Japanese spider crabs. They’re making nighttime blackwater dives and using MBARI submersibles to collect species we’ve never exhibited before. They’re perfecting techniques for raising bone-eating worms that feast on the skeletons of sunken whales.

The exhibition will feature these and other incredible animals — as well as the innovative tools scientists and engineers use to explore the deep and to measure impacts from threats like plastic pollution and climate change."

Given MBA currently displays and has bred nautilus I think they are likely as well.
I love Giant Spider Crabs, they are my favorite crustacean species! Are they generally rare in zoos? I'm used to seeing them on my visits to Shedd, but maybe they aren't as common as I thought?
 
I love Giant Spider Crabs, they are my favorite crustacean species! Are they generally rare in zoos? I'm used to seeing them on my visits to Shedd, but maybe they aren't as common as I thought?

I think around 25 facilities hold them in North America, from what information I have seen. I've only seen the species once, at SeaWorld SD.
 
Given MBA currently displays and has bred nautilus I think they are likely as well.

I remember that there is (was?) a nautilus exhibit adjacent to the octopus exhibits in the original Monterey habitats section. Before the penguins and the tropical species gallery for kids were added, it was one of the few tropical species on permanent display at the aquarium.
 
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I don't remeber seeing anything about nautilus or Giant Spider Crab (I know those are kept in captivity, I've seen both of them), but where have Salmon Snailfish been kept?
A handful of Japanese aquariums have various snailfish species, but I don't know off the top of my head which ones. I've seen a pic of what looks to be salmon snailfish at Tokyo Sea Life Park (unfortunately they weren't there or were hiding when I went there)
 
I remember that there is (was?) a nautilus exhibit adjacent to the octopus exhibits in the original Monterey habitats section. Before the penguins and the tropical species gallery for kids were added, it was one of the few tropical species on permanent display at the aquarium.

Long gone, I never saw it there. I still haven't seen nautilus.
 
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