Monterey Bay Aquarium Monterey Bay Aquarium News

I cannot wait to go to Monterey Aquarium - I have my fingers crossed for next year! Would be amazing to see the White shark!
 
kellylou said:
I cannot wait to go to Monterey Aquarium - I have my fingers crossed for next year! Would be amazing to see the White shark!
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at the moment they haven't got any great white.
the last one has been released several weeks ago after it became more and more agressive.

So it's waiting for the next one.
I believe the best chance is august-september. most (if not all, I should look it up again) great whites MBA had were caught, acclimated and on display in this period.

they remained on display for a few weeks to about half a year, depending on how they were doing.
 
kiang said:
How frustrated must you be snowleopard?
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Tell me about it! I've visited that world-class facility in 2006, 2008 and 2011 and on all 3 occasions I've missed out on seeing one of their great white sharks...and this time around I missed out by around 5 weeks and the shark is only 4 feet long...but still I'm mildly disappointed. I have no plans to tour the California zoos and aquariums for many years now but I'm sure that eventually I'll see one!
 
snowleopard said:
Tell me about it! I've visited that world-class facility in 2006, 2008 and 2011 and on all 3 occasions I've missed out on seeing one of their great white sharks...and this time around I missed out by around 5 weeks and the shark is only 4 feet long...but still I'm mildly disappointed. I have no plans to tour the California zoos and aquariums for many years now but I'm sure that eventually I'll see one!
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Now you know that you need to schedule a return trip for about 6 weeks after your initial trip to the aquarium! Your visits may be predictive of white shark appearances.

If you have it handy, could you post your review of the "Hot Pink Flamingo" exhibit in this thread? I know that you liked some of it, but were not a fan of the actual flamingo exhibit. Do you how long this exhibit is scheduled to go, and what the next exhibit planned is?
 
@David: I have no idea what is coming up next at the aquarium, but the idea of a rotating exhibit is something that all top-notch aquariums should have. For example places like Aquarium of the Bay (a small room), Aquarium of the Pacific, California Academy of Sciences, Shedd Aquarium, Monterey Bay Aquarium and Oregon Coast Aquarium all have galleries with rotating temporary exhibits. Vancouver Aquarium is building an extra gallery for that exclusive purpose with their expansion plans that will occur starting later this year and end around 2014.

Excerpt from my review:

Hot Pink Flamingos – the information on climate change and the ever-changing environment of Earth is magnificently well done in this temporary exhibit. I took lots of photos of brilliant posters and computer images on the walls that offer up cleverly informative descriptions of climate change on the planet. The three animal exhibits are all average at best, as the graphics and various signs take center stage here. There is a large tank with 4 juvenile green sea turtles; a Magellanic penguin exhibit (the second penguin enclosure in the aquarium) and a bird exhibit with these 6 species: Chilean flamingo, roseate spoonbill, white ibis, scarlet ibis, black-crowned night heron and green heron.

Another excerpt from the same review:

When I first visited in 2006 there was a “Sharks” gallery with around 20-25 species of sharks in a variety of exhibits (the aquarium still has over a dozen species of sharks); in 2008 the sharks temporary habitats were gone and replaced by “Wild About Otters” featuring Asian small-clawed otters, African spot-necked otters and a variety of other terrariums and terrific signage about otters; and now in 2011 the featured temporary exhibits are called “Hot Pink Flamingos: Stories of Hope in a Changing Sea”. The new area includes several bird exhibits and a brilliant set of graphics and interactive activities all about climate change, carbon footprints and the environment. Every couple of years there is an entirely new gallery of exhibits, and the aquarium keeps up its reputation for top-notch conservation messages with all of the graphics and various signs adorning the walls.
 
Too late to see the latest great white shark at the aquarium, it has been released back into the Pacific! According to a local TV news story, it was there 55 days and gained 9 pounds and 2 inches while in captivity. It is tagged with a tracking device to study its patterns now.
 
Weedy Sea Dragon Babies Sprouting Like Weeds
8 August 2012

What the Monterey Bay Aquarium achieved recently may not have been impossible, but it certainly was difficult. They have managed to coax their weedy sea dragons to mate and produce a brood of over 80 tiny offspring. This is only the fourth time ever that an aquarium in the United States has managed the feat. They are now assisting the proud papa as much as they can in the care of those babies.

The sea dragons have been part of the special exhibit at the aquarium called "The Secret Lives of Seahorses." It was there that the father began delivering his young. The babies have all been moved behind the scenes for now so that the seahorse husbandry team can make sure that they survive and thrive.

The fact that the mating and pregnancy has taken place means that the team has managed to create a comfortable and non-threatening environment for the sea dragons to live.

Like seahorses, the female sea dragon lays her eggs onto the brood patch located on the underside of the male's tail. The male fertilizes and carries the eggs in a brood pouch for six to eight weeks before the hatchlings begin to appear. For these happy parents the babies began to emerge on July 22. The last of the eggs hatched on August 2.

Weedy sea dragons have long, slender bodies with leaf-like projections that allow them to blend in with the seaweed where they make their home in the wild. They grow to be up to18 inches long, and are generally reddish in color with yellow spots and purple accents. They feed on tiny crustaceans and zooplankton, sucking them in through their toothless mouths.

The weedy sea dragon is native to the southern coast of Australia and the coast of Tasmania. While they are not considered threatened in the wild, they are considered vulnerable due to over-collecting for the home aquarium trade. They are protected under Australian law, making it illegal to catch them without a permit.

Once the babies are grown, some will join the exhibit, while others will be shared with other aquariums through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
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can't say I'm all that surprised, but it appears visitors may have missed their chance if they didn't see one of the earlier great whites: Monterey Bay Aquarium to suspend collection/display of great white sharks. Pure luck that my visit in 2009 coincided with a great white.

Admittedly, it surprised me to read that only the first of their six great whites caused a large increases in aquarium attendance.

Whether the post-release fate of the latest, the 2011 great white was caused by its time in captivity is anybody's guess, but I guess it may have influenced their decision. Regardless I do believe Monterey Bay's great whites have been such important ambassadors for the species that the program should have continued. As an addendum it might also be worth noting that another regular of the Open Ocean tank, the scalloped hammerhead is more threatened overall than the great white but obviously it isn't such a high profile species.
 
condor said:
can't say I'm all that surprised, but it appears visitors may have missed their chance if they didn't see one of the earlier great whites: Monterey Bay Aquarium to suspend collection/display of great white sharks. Pure luck that my visit in 2009 coincided with a great white.

Admittedly, it surprised me to read that only the first of their six great whites caused a large increases in aquarium attendance.

Whether the post-release fate of the latest, the 2011 great white was caused by its time in captivity is anybody's guess, but I guess it may have influenced their decision. Regardless I do believe Monterey Bay's great whites have been such important ambassadors for the species that the program should have continued. As an addendum it might also be worth noting that another regular of the Open Ocean tank, the scalloped hammerhead is more threatened overall than the great white but obviously it isn't such a high profile species.
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This is very interesting. I wonder what went in to the decision? As you note condor, it may well be mostly driven by animal welfare issues. I'm curious if there was an educational and economic component where they figured that it wasn't worth the expense and stress to the animal relative to the publicity, aquarium revenue, and educational value gained.
 
I think it may have had to do with the Aquarium's overall fight to bring the white shark under federal protection. I'm sure they didn't want the hypocritical image of promoting the species protection, then turning around and putting one on display. It would be more rewarding for the Institution to have played a role in protecting the species, rather than add another white shark to their already successful white shark program.
 
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