Monterey Bay Aquarium Major deep sea animal exhibit coming to MBA

[splendens]

In the image gallery for giant isopod it says “Touch a giant isopod at Monterey Bay Aquarium's "Into the Deep" exhibition. ©Monterey Bay Aquarium” so they may be in a touch tank. https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/newsroom/image-galleries/into-the-deep

 

[Westcoastperson]

In the image gallery for giant isopod it says “Touch a giant isopod at Monterey Bay Aquarium's "Into the Deep" exhibition. ©Monterey Bay Aquarium” so they may be in a touch tank. https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/newsroom/image-galleries/into-the-deep

I doubt it, for a few reasons.

 

[splendens]

Me too but it was done by Florida Keys aquarium encounters

 

[DaLilFishie]

I wonder if they're still alive. Japan has a mixed track record with deep-sea life - ableit better than any western aquarium thus far I think.

Mhm, Japan does have a better record than the west, but I suspect that's because hardly any western aquariums have even tried keeping deep sea animals besides to usual Japanese Spider Crab/Giant Isopod/Spotted Ratfish. Maybe you might find Nautilus/Tasmanian Giant Crab/Hagfish if you're lucky but that's about it.

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

Found this little comment by Occated Eelpout on MBA's YouTube post about the exhibit, and all I can say is, I REALLY HOPE THIS IS THEM CONFIRMING IN A WAY THEY WILL HAVE SEA PIGS ON DISPLAY
They were in one of the Art Mockups after all O_O

 

[Great Argus]

My guess then is that they're not sure how long it will last - possibly because they aren't sure how long their collection of animals will last. The several years is probably a minimum.

Well, a few species listed for display will certainly do fine lifespan wise, namely the Japanese Spider Crabs and the isopods. Everything else may be pretty rotational. Though if we're talking about lifespans controlling exhibit duration, Tentacles opened in 2014, and most cephalopods live a year tops, and here we are eight years later and the exhibit is still there. So short lifespans determining the length of an exhibit doesn't seem to be an issue for MBA.

 

[DaLilFishie]

Well, a few species listed for display will certainly do fine lifespan wise, namely the Japanese Spider Crabs and the isopods. Everything else may be pretty rotational. Though if we're talking about lifespans controlling exhibit duration, Tentacles opened in 2014, and most cephalopods live a year tops, and here we are eight years later and the exhibit is still there. So short lifespans determining the length of an exhibit doesn't seem to be an issue for MBA.

Mhm. Do keep in mind that MBA was breeding some of the species in Tentacles like the Bigfin Reef Squid and Flamboyant Cuttlefish to replace the ones that died (which is bound to happen when exhibiting cephalopods for a long time due to their short lifespans). They likely won't be breeding the deep sea species, possibly with the exception of the comb jellies, so they would have to replace dead animals, and catching specific deep sea species in the field is probably difficult due to low population densities, so rotating species makes sense.

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

Mhm. Do keep in mind that MBA was breeding some of the species in Tentacles like the Bigfin Reef Squid and Flamboyant Cuttlefish to replace the ones that died (which is bound to happen when exhibiting cephalopods for a long time due to their short lifespans). They likely won't be breeding the deep sea species, possibly with the exception of the comb jellies, so they would have to replace dead animals, and catching specific deep sea species in the field is probably difficult due to low population densities, so rotating species makes sense.

I agree they might not do a ton of breeding since we know so little on a lot of the species reproduce, they've actually already bred 2 species and are working on a 3rd it sounded like which is a dang good start for the exhibit not even being open yet.

From their website it sounds like they've found out how to breed / culture Bone Eating Worms + from the BTS Jelly Lab Stream they did say they cultured the Hula Skirt Siphonophore. Also it sounded like they're trying to breed the Bloody Belly Combjelly since she said they're trying to use the old methods they used to breed the Comb Jellies (although she said it didn't seem very successful with the Bloody Bellies though) so it does seem like something they're working on. I'm super intrigued to see what they successfully breed next

 

[ocellated_eelpout]

Found this little comment by Occated Eelpout on MBA's YouTube post about the exhibit, and all I can say is, I REALLY HOPE THIS IS THEM CONFIRMING IN A WAY THEY WILL HAVE SEA PIGS ON DISPLAY View attachment 527605
They were in one of the Art Mockups after all O_O View attachment 527608

On one of MBA's livestreams, one of the marine biologists mentioned that at MBARI, they got a sneak peek at the sea pigs behind the scenes. This photo Is likely a live sea pig behind the scenes

 

[aardvark250]

I wonder if they're still alive. Japan has a mixed track record with deep-sea life - ableit better than any western aquarium thus far I think.

Mhm, Japan does have a better record than the west, but I suspect that's because hardly any western aquariums have even tried keeping deep sea animals besides to usual Japanese Spider Crab/Giant Isopod/Spotted Ratfish. Maybe you might find Nautilus/Tasmanian Giant Crab/Hagfish if you're lucky but that's about it.

Well technically 2 days is infinity % more than basically anywhere else for goblin shark, but you can't really say they "keep better than other aquarium", at least not successfully. But I agree say hagfish or isopod they seems more frequent in Japanese aquarium.

 

[ocellated_eelpout]

Well technically 2 days is infinity % more than basically anywhere else for goblin shark, but you can't really say they "keep better than other aquarium", at least not successfully. But I agree say hagfish or isopod they seems more frequent in Japanese aquarium.

Japanese aquariums usually succeed in keeping 100m-500m deep sea creatures, but creatures like goblin sharks and frilled sharks are not collected with ROVs, and are instead collected by trawls. This damages them anyway due to the temperature change, the net scratching their delicate skin, and of course Barotrauma. All of these combined with the fact that aquariums like Numazu Deep Sea Aquarium just put the sharks in a tank that is too small, lowers the chance that the shark will survive. I am beginning to believe that it is possible to successfully keep goblin sharks since the attempts at keeping Smalltooth sand tiger sharks have failed due to the same circumstances. But then again, the idea of catching a goblin shark with an ROV Is and sounds ridiculous. That's what I think anyways.

 

[DaLilFishie]

Mhm. I see no reason why Goblin Sharks couldn't be kept if they could be collected without damaging them, I'd imagine in terms of care they're basically a coldwater Sand Tiger Shark.

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

On one of MBA's livestreams, one of the marine biologists mentioned that at MBARI, they got a sneak peek at the sea pigs behind the scenes. This photo Is likely a live sea pig behind the scenes
View attachment 528685

Oh wow, I never caught that part. I gotta start paying more attention to the past / upcoming live streams.

MBARI also posted something on their Insta today about ROV's and what looked like a sea pig they were collecting, so im super excited

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

No news so far, although the Exhibit is only 2 months away from opening!

MBA seems to be doing a lot more Deep Sea stuff recently to spread some promos for the Exhibit such as the video they did yesterday, and I think MBARI also did something recently.

Seattle Aquarium is going to do a live talk the 17th about Deep Sea Creatures, including 2 Marine Biologists from MBA and MBARI. I'm intrigued to see if they talk about any animals they might have on display since we are only 2 months away

 

[DaLilFishie]

No news so far, although the Exhibit is only 2 months away from opening!

MBA seems to be doing a lot more Deep Sea stuff recently to spread some promos for the Exhibit such as the video they did yesterday, and I think MBARI also did something recently.

Seattle Aquarium is going to do a live talk the 17th about Deep Sea Creatures, including 2 Marine Biologists from MBA and MBARI. I'm intrigued to see if they talk about any animals they might have on display since we are only 2 months away
View attachment 531347

Awh, I'm not gonna be able to tune in because of the timing if anyone does watch it and they mention anything interesting about the new exhibit, be sure to mention it here!

 

[Great Argus]

Not sure if there's any new info in here, but thought I'd post it anyway.

New additions to the Monterey Bay Aquarium look like little aliens

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

Awh, I'm not gonna be able to tune in because of the timing if anyone does watch it and they mention anything interesting about the new exhibit, be sure to mention it here!

I should be able to make it, so I'll try and get everything down!
Plus I'll try and see if I can get some new info out of Kakani (MBARI) and Paul (MBA) during the Q&A session. Maybe a new animal or 2, I'm hoping lol

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

So it turns out MBA actually has a Discord Server (I just found out a few minutes ago) but they have the Social Media team on there and you can actually ask them questions! There's an Into the Deep channel and Pat has actually been answering some questions from last month, and it sounds like they might be introducing a Deep Sea Live Cam in one of the tanks !

 

[DaLilFishie]

So it turns out MBA actually has a Discord Server (I just found out a few minutes ago) but they have the Social Media team on there and you can actually ask them questions! There's an Into the Deep channel and Pat has actually been answering some questions from last month, and it sounds like they might be introducing a Deep Sea Live Cam in one of the tanks ! View attachment 531628 View attachment 531629

They have a discord server?!? I think I'll have to join!

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

They have a discord server?!? I think I'll have to join!

They do! Here's the link: (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post but I didn't see anything against it) Join the Monterey Bay Aquarium Discord Server!