The aquarium did a preview of the new gallery for members this week. The gallery opens for the general public on July 1st. I will start by stating that I expected this to be a sub-par gallery, just a shoe in on a under-utilized space. I could not have been more wrong - this gallery was done really well, if it sets the tone for the new expansions coming the next two years then I think we can easily expect the Florida Aquarium to take a top 10 position in the USA.
All of the tank graphics are touch screens where you can get a LOT of information on each creature. Some have interactive games on them as well. All of the above tank species names morphed/rotated from a digital line drawing to the common and scientific name.
There are also several interactive games and such aimed at kids.
The largest tank is the paddlefish tank, which took up the entirety of one of the walls. The weakest tank was for the freshwater stingrays, which seemed rather small for three rays. The epaulette shark tank had 4 animals, and was right sized for now, but they will outgrow it. The archer fish tank was an open top, so they plan on showing them shoot out of it.
Most of the animals were surprises as they were not teased, other than axolotl, paddlefish, and epaulette sharks. Missing were the teased cherry shrimp, so I am not sure what happened there. It was great to see electric eels back, they used to be displayed up in the Madagascar area a long while back.
The gallery are all fresh water creatures (excluding the octopus), here is the species list:
Arowana
Cichlid
Mudskipper
Freshwater stingray
Electric Eeel
Electric Catfish
Four-eyed Fish
Epaulette Shark
Mandarinfish
Archer fish
Paddlefish
Blind Cave tetra
Octopus (unspecified species, unseen)
Axolotle
Bird Poop Frog/Pied warty frog
Panther Chameleon
They have also added a small giftshop/stand outside of the exit, which makes the aquarium have two giftshop areas now, previously it was only the main one on the first floor near the exit and restaurant.
More pictures are in the Florida Aquarium gallery.
All of the tank graphics are touch screens where you can get a LOT of information on each creature. Some have interactive games on them as well. All of the above tank species names morphed/rotated from a digital line drawing to the common and scientific name.
There are also several interactive games and such aimed at kids.
The largest tank is the paddlefish tank, which took up the entirety of one of the walls. The weakest tank was for the freshwater stingrays, which seemed rather small for three rays. The epaulette shark tank had 4 animals, and was right sized for now, but they will outgrow it. The archer fish tank was an open top, so they plan on showing them shoot out of it.
Most of the animals were surprises as they were not teased, other than axolotl, paddlefish, and epaulette sharks. Missing were the teased cherry shrimp, so I am not sure what happened there. It was great to see electric eels back, they used to be displayed up in the Madagascar area a long while back.
The gallery are all fresh water creatures (excluding the octopus), here is the species list:
Arowana
Cichlid
Mudskipper
Freshwater stingray
Electric Eeel
Electric Catfish
Four-eyed Fish
Epaulette Shark
Mandarinfish
Archer fish
Paddlefish
Blind Cave tetra
Octopus (unspecified species, unseen)
Axolotle
Bird Poop Frog/Pied warty frog
Panther Chameleon
They have also added a small giftshop/stand outside of the exit, which makes the aquarium have two giftshop areas now, previously it was only the main one on the first floor near the exit and restaurant.
More pictures are in the Florida Aquarium gallery.
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