Seattle Aquarium Seattle Aquarium $113M, 50,000sqft Expansion expected to open in 2024

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

There hasn't been much news that's been publicly announced that I can talk about, though something exciting is that construction is currently in "Phase 4" which is the last phase in terms of construction. This includes finishing the exterior, habitat spaces, and the elevator, stairs, bridge, etc. So pretty much just the last bits of construction.
If I remember correctly, this part should wrap up towards the end of this year, and then all the life support systems, interior things, and smaller displays will be installed early next year along with the animals moving in.

It sounds like we're still on track to open in June next year! These aren't the best photos but a lot of the windows have gone up, the big window is almost in, the roof is almost done, and the exterior finish is also moving along quickly.

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

This pretty neat 3D Render for the Construction shows off a good amount of detail for the exterior and especially "The Reef" and "Archipelago". I didn't see any focus on the smaller exhibits, though hopefully this gives a good idea of what some of the building should look like once completed

 

[NAIB Volunteer]

The Aquarium is seeking additional funding to complete the Ocean Pavilion. Despite already contributing public funds, the City is being asked to contribute more through a loan as other funding through a federal grant and private donations have not materialized as expected.

Seattle Aquarium seeks more help from city to complete expansion

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

The Aquarium is seeking additional funding to complete the Ocean Pavilion. Despite already contributing public funds, the City is being asked to contribute more through a loan as other funding through a federal grant and private donations have not materialized as expected.

Seattle Aquarium seeks more help from city to complete expansion

In an exciting conclusion, the City Council decided in a 7-1 vote to pass the funding. Meaning unless there's a really random delay that pops up, the Ocean Pavilion should now be completed on time for a June '24 opening date!

Seattle City Council clears way for completion of $160 million aquarium expansion | The Seattle Times

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

This isn't really big news since it was expected to happen but as of a few days ago, our massive Porcupine Puffer, Kokala, is now off exhibit from the Pacific Coral Reef. While I can't say for certain, I confidently expect her to be BTS until the animals start being moved over and im guessing she'll live in "The Reef" with the Sharks, Ray's, and other species that'll be in there which is super exciting.
She's definitely one of the most popular animals at the Aquarium so I thought I'd just add this bit.
On the website as well, there's a new section that talks about some of the animals that you'll see + some better pics of the concept art.
And one update I should mention is that earlier I mentioned the area that highlights unique / odd animals and habitat niches was going to be called "Ocean Jewles", that's now been updated to "At home in the Ocean".

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

I accidentally posted this in another thread somehow LOL my fault

There hasn't been much I can talk about yet but one correction I would like to make is I believe somewhere earlier I stated that the whole of the Pacific Coral Reef Gallery would be closing when the Ocean Pavilion opens, that is false. It's only the "Ocean Oddities" section (the area with the two bubble tower tanks if you've been) that will be closing down within a few months as 1) a majority of the species in that area are moving over to the OP such as the Flamboyants, Spotted Lagoon Jellies, Corals, etc and 2) That area will now be renovated for the new touch pools. A giant window will be installed that will look directly out onto Elliot Bay, and the new touch pools will be moved into that space with a few other things. That should start right after the OP opens.

So the "Volcano Tunnel" that makes up a majority of PCR won't be closed just yet, it'll still be open for a good while after the OP opens.
Also here are some construction pictures that the public can see from the fences. All the windows but 1 are put in which that area that is covered up by the wood is so some of the upstairs stuff can be moved through it, the entrance and stairs / elevators are also being installed atm.

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

Something really cool I don't think I touched on was that the "Archipelago" is going to have a deeper end which his why the exhibit has a really unique shape. I believe It's all one big tank but it'll showcase two different environments you would find in a Mangrove Ecosystem; the top down viewing on the second floor is going to be the shallow end where the Mangrove Trees are that'll allow visitors to look into the tank where soft corals such as Toadstool Leathers and a few others will be growing. The viewing on the first floor will show the deeper part of the exhibit that showcases the coral reefs that are found a bit further out from shore. I'll have to grab a pic but if you walk past the construction, you can see the viewing window for the first floor viewing of the "Archipelago" already. I'm hoping we do something similar to the Steinhart Aquarium where their Mangrove lagoon is full of Giant Clams, I'd love to see some especially since our big one passed away not too long ago. I would've loved to see the Clownfish and Anemones move in here as well just like Steinhart but they're actually moving into the "At home in the Ocean" gallery which makes sense. But this gives the Blue Spotted Masked Rays plenty of space to swim and it's cool to showcase both environments they inhabit since they're also found in the corals reefs that are a bit offshore. Also under the pillar of the area that will have the Mangroves, there is a second smaller tank that I'm not sure what will be on display in there, but it'll be its own separate system since it's not a part of the main tank. Perhaps some other species that requires it's own tank.

And then this part is just my own theory since I'm not sure and haven't heard any word about the Seahorses. So the species we have right now is Hippocampus erectus which comes from the Eastern parts of North America down into South America, so they're out of range and won't be moving over. Since the 3 we have right now are all pretty old in terms of Seahorse age and aren't very active, my guess is that they'll be moved into the the part of PCR that will still be open. Since the Clownfish and Anemones are moving over, I think they'll take their tank once they're out. But since seahorses are really popular with visitors, I still think we'll have at least one species in the Ocean Pavilion since it would be a greatly missed opportunity if we didn't
As much as I'd love to see a species of Pygmy Seahorse from the Philippines and surround area, not only is their care super difficult since you also need to keep the Non-Photosynthetic Seafan they live on healthy in addition to the seahorses, the collection permits you need are super difficult to obtain so I highly doubt we'll have any. I believe the Steinhart Aquarium is the only Aquarium in the US to have brought them over and bred them and they mentioned it took a few years to just get the permits and I don't think they have Pygmy Seahorses in their collection anymore.
However 3 species that are fairly common in Public Aquariums, the Aquarium trade, and bred in captivity that are from the Coral Triangle are; H. kuda (Yellow Kuda Seahorse) / H. comes (Tiger Tail Seahorse) / H. whitei (New Holland Seahorse). Out of these 3 species, I believe the most likely candidate would be H. kuda since the plan is to have a Seagrass display in the "At home in the Ocean" gallery and H. kuda naturally occurs in Seagrass beds and Macroalgae flats so it lines up pretty well. Add some other seahorse safe species in there such as a species of Pipefish or Mandarin and that would make out for a really awesome display. Of course this is just speculation but I really hope it comes into fruition.

While almost all of the species are at the offsite facility, it seems like the Social Media team wants to space out the time they release the Animal Care Stories videos to build up hype which makes sense. I'm hoping the next few come out soon since they should be really good, I'm especially waiting for the Bowmouth Guitar Shark episode since their story of how they got here is incredible.

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

Shedd Aquarium (@shedd_aquarium) • Instagram photos and videos
3 of the Female Bowmouth Guitarfish pups made their debut at Shedd recently. While i normally wouldn't be talking about this, I think it's really cool because ours that will make their debut in the Ocean Pavilion are siblings of the ones at Shedd. I talked about a little earlier in the thread but the 4 Aquariums that aided in the rescue were;
Us (Seattle), Shedd, Georgia, and Disney (their "The Seas with Nemo & Friends" aquarium)
I'm not sure if the ones at Georgia or Disney have made it onto display yet, but that's really cool to see that the other ones from the same group are doing well. I can't wait to see ours debut in the coming months.

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

A New Episode of Animal Care Stories just dropped featuring; The Eagle Rays! (along with sneak peeks of other fish) (Also the website has been revamped with a cleaner, fresher look)
Episode 6 just dropped featuring the 3 Spotted Eagle Rays that will be apart of the Ocean Pavilion. To my knowledge, these guys came from the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium (PDZA) in Tacoma, and all 3 are males. I heard from one of the biologists that all the males were moved from PDZA because they got overcrowded with how many pups they were producing.
This makes the number of Sharks and Rays to be:
-3 Zebra Sharks (1 M / 2 F )
-3 Spotted Eagle Rays
-1 Leopard Whiptail Ray (perhaps more? though I know of only 1. In the animation they show 2 rays)
-1 Bowmouth Guitarfish
-2 Diamond Masked Rays
-?? of Black Tip Reef Sharks

The report that was in the Seattle Times Article indicated 21 total Sharks and Rays, and I highly doubt were getting 11 Black tip Reef Sharks so perhaps that other number is made up of different species that haven't been revealed yet? Time will tell.

Also in this episode, there's a clip that shows some of the Reef Fish you'll see which includes: Yellow Pyramid Butterflyfish, Moorish Idols, Yellowtail Fusilers, Lyertail Anthias, Ignitus Anthias (?) and Bluegreen Chromis to name a few.

 

[Ebirah766]

A New Episode of Animal Care Stories just dropped featuring; The Eagle Rays! (along with sneak peeks of other fish) (Also the website has been revamped with a cleaner, fresher look)
Episode 6 just dropped featuring the 3 Spotted Eagle Rays that will be apart of the Ocean Pavilion. To my knowledge, these guys came from the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium (PDZA) in Tacoma, and all 3 are males. I heard from one of the biologists that all the males were moved from PDZA because they got overcrowded with how many pups they were producing.
This makes the number of Sharks and Rays to be:
-3 Zebra Sharks (1 M / 2 F )
-3 Spotted Eagle Rays
-1 Leopard Whiptail Ray (perhaps more? though I know of only 1. In the animation they show 2 rays)
-1 Bowmouth Guitarfish
-2 Diamond Masked Rays
-?? of Black Tip Reef Sharks

The report that was in the Seattle Times Article indicated 21 total Sharks and Rays, and I highly doubt were getting 11 Black tip Reef Sharks so perhaps that other number is made up of different species that haven't been revealed yet? Time will tell.

Also in this episode, there's a clip that shows some of the Reef Fish you'll see which includes: Yellow Pyramid Butterflyfish, Moorish Idols, Yellowtail Fusilers, Lyertail Anthias, Ignitus Anthias (?) and Bluegreen Chromis to name a few.

Do you know what species of eagle ray they have? Aetobatus narinari?

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

Do you know what species of eagle ray they have? Aetobatus narinari?

You're correct, I should've clarified, I forgot there were other species of eagle ray haha
Something else I should clarify is that the Archipelago is actually 1 big tank displaying two different habitats. So the mangrove shallow area is viewable from the second floor while the coastal reef is viewable from the first floor, but it's all one tank meaning the Rays and Fish have plenty of space to explore.
You can also see an animation of the main viewing window for the Reef in the newest episode

 

[Westcoastperson]

-2 Diamond Masked Rays

Neotrygon kuhlii maybe? I’ve never heard of a Diamond maskray and I believe the only one commonly held in captivity is Kuhls/Blue Spotted.

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

Neotrygon kuhlii maybe? I’ve never heard of a Diamond maskray and I believe the only one commonly held in captivity is Kuhls/Blue Spotted.

Correct, I meant to say Blue Spotted Masked Ray, not Diamond Masked Ray.

The Masked Rays will be in the Archipelago while the other species will be in "The Reef". I'm a little surprised we're not getting any smaller Sharks such as the Coral Catshark, Epaullete Shark, or species of Bamboo Shark. I think they'd make great additions to the Archipelago + all are available as egg cases / captive bred pretty frequently. Maybe they'll be revealed at the end as one of the supposed remaining 11 Elasmobranchs that haven't been talked about yet.

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

Not much to cover besides some new construction photos you can see from the outside. A lot of the windows have gone up which is really nice, and the elevator has been finished (I forgot to grab a pic of it).
I can expand on the future construction updates though;

Pier 59 is the Main Building where the current entrance to the aquarium is. Sometime after the Ocean Pavilion is done, renovations for Pier 59 will start which includes expanding the West Wing of the building (basically just making it longer) which at the end of it will include the big window looking out on the sound (I mentioned earlier) and some new touch ups and exhibits. I'm not sure if this will also include the closure of the Pacific Coral Reef Gallery but it would be a great opportunity since that area would be in construction anyways.
There are no plans yet of what the PCR gallery will turn into, they want to keep it local species centric so I'm hoping for something like turning the main tank into a permanent Kelp Forest Tank (we do get kelp naturally growing in the dome during the summer when the water warms up but it all dies off in the winter) and then make space for a jelly gallery of local species since that'd be really awesome (Beroe, Sea Gooseberries, Cross Jellies, Egg Yolk Jellies, even Nanomia Siphonophores makes appearances sometimes in the Sound)
Pier 60 is the area that has the Dome, Marine Mammals, and Birds that will be renovated and expanded after Pier 59 is done. There is no timeline setup yet, though I do know (and it was mentioned briefly on the website) that the Mammals and Birds are going to be a big focus on the renovation. I'm not sure if the Dome or Puget Sound Fish will be touched (I have heard some interesting things about what could be happening to the Puget Sound Fish gallery, can't say much but some of the space down there might be changing up soon or when the Pier is renovated).

Overall I think the future for the aquarium looks really positive. Since the Ocean Pavilion has been setup, the term were using now is "Aquarium campus" which I guess makes sense since the Aquarium is technically made up of 3 buildings (Pier 59, Pier 60, Ocean Pavilion).
Now that were at the end of the year and getting closer to the opening, more information should be coming out that I'm excited to share and of course once it opens, I'll get a full species list going.

 

[NAIB Volunteer]

How is the Aquarium going to handle guest circulation? Three buildings, one of which isn't even connected, seems like a logistical challenge of directing tourists. Baltimore had that challenge for it's three buildings over two piers and they all meet at a central mezzanine!

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

How is the Aquarium going to handle guest circulation? Three buildings, one of which isn't even connected, seems like a logistical challenge of directing tourists. Baltimore had that challenge for it's three buildings over two piers and they all meet at a central mezzanine!

Yeah that's the part that makes me a little worried and I'm not sure about. Even now I get questions time to time about if Pier 60 is apart of the aquarium even though it's connected and there's a lot of signage directing people towards it once they're done with Pier 59.
The city is turning the aquarium campus into more of a Park area so there's no more road between the current aquarium and the Ocean Pavilion, it will all be a walking space with benches, plant beds, etc which should make it easier to see that the two are connected but it will be interesting to see how it's handled.
There will be a sign on the front of the Ocean Pavilion saying "Seattle Aquarium" and the window up into "The Reef" right above the building entrance should help too, and you don't have to pay a separate entry fee to enter so I hope people will notice but it would've been kind of cool if we did a sky bridge that connected the current aquarium and the Ocean Pavilion since a few piers down, there's already a few sky bridges for things like the ferry so I don't think it would've been too out of place but maybe that'll be something for the future

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

A lengthy article by ENRNorthwest reveals some new details (some I didn't even know) and a lot of new photos about the Ocean Pavilion and also reveals a good timeline to go off of. Some of the big details include:
-Confirmation that the "The Reef" is 350,000 Gallons (I've seen reports that range from 325k to 360k, this is coming straight from the architects so I trust it)
-The "Archipelago" is 27,600 Gallons and is made up of 3 concrete tanks to form 1 large tank (the shallow area with the mangroves, the middle section, and the deep reef part)
-The big tank completed the 3 day water test and passed so it is ready to be filled with water
-Exhibit tanks are currently being worked on and installed inside the building
-A majority of the construction is looking to be wrapped up in February (all the outer construction and some internal things). Exhibit design and Maintenace will still continue
-The exhibits will be filled with water in February as well

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

Not much news to talk about, however new information dropped about the Archipelago.

So the Archipelago is actually 2 exhibits, not 1 like I thought before. Its under 1 name but it's 2 two separate tanks. So the first is the Mangrove Exhibit which will house the Blue Spotted Rays and other small fish. It sounds like there won't be any Coral in the tank. The second tank is the "Coral Archipelago" as its dubbed, and that's where most of the coral will be found. So the Coral Archipelago is the 2 windows on the left, and the Mangrove Exhibit is the one on the right if you see the picture above in the thread.
Why 2 different tanks? Well Mangroves have some different requirements than Corals such as needing specific trace elements that either the corals don't need, or will irritate them if theres too much in the water (Such as Nitrate, Phosphate, Potassium, etc). While in theory we could house the two together, it's a very specific level that the elements need to be at for both to be happy. Along with the potential Salinity changes because there will be a misting system for the mangroves (Many mangroves excrete salt through their leaves that need to misted off to keep the trees healthy). Just to avoid future challenges, they decided to separate the two.
The divider will be the big rock you see in the back that's reminiscent of what you'd find in the Coral Triangle so it acts as a natural looking barrier.
Now that they've mentioned that, I'm pretty confident the Tesselata / Honeycomb Moray will be housed in the Coral Archipelago since it makes for easy viewing from the bottom area, and avoids potential aggression with the Rays and Sharks (Honeycomb Morays are pretty peaceful for Morays but anything could happen.)
I'm not sure the specifics on how big each section is (I'm assuming the article was talking about 27,600 gallons being the total combined volume of the two tanks), but I'm pretty confident both are open top (the Mangrove tank for sure is, not 100% on the Coral side but that seems to be the case).

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

Something really cool I don't think I touched on was that the "Archipelago" is going to have a deeper end which his why the exhibit has a really unique shape. I believe It's all one big tank but it'll showcase two different environments you would find in a Mangrove Ecosystem; the top down viewing on the second floor is going to be the shallow end where the Mangrove Trees are that'll allow visitors to look into the tank where soft corals such as Toadstool Leathers and a few others will be growing. The viewing on the first floor will show the deeper part of the exhibit that showcases the coral reefs that are found a bit further out from shore. I'll have to grab a pic but if you walk past the construction, you can see the viewing window for the first floor viewing of the "Archipelago" already. I'm hoping we do something similar to the Steinhart Aquarium where their Mangrove lagoon is full of Giant Clams, I'd love to see some especially since our big one passed away not too long ago. I would've loved to see the Clownfish and Anemones move in here as well just like Steinhart but they're actually moving into the "At home in the Ocean" gallery which makes sense. But this gives the Blue Spotted Masked Rays plenty of space to swim and it's cool to showcase both environments they inhabit since they're also found in the corals reefs that are a bit offshore. Also under the pillar of the area that will have the Mangroves, there is a second smaller tank that I'm not sure what will be on display in there, but it'll be its own separate system since it's not a part of the main tank. Perhaps some other species that requires it's own tank.
View attachment 654342
And then this part is just my own theory since I'm not sure and haven't heard any word about the Seahorses. So the species we have right now is Hippocampus erectus which comes from the Eastern parts of North America down into South America, so they're out of range and won't be moving over. Since the 3 we have right now are all pretty old in terms of Seahorse age and aren't very active, my guess is that they'll be moved into the the part of PCR that will still be open. Since the Clownfish and Anemones are moving over, I think they'll take their tank once they're out. But since seahorses are really popular with visitors, I still think we'll have at least one species in the Ocean Pavilion since it would be a greatly missed opportunity if we didn't
As much as I'd love to see a species of Pygmy Seahorse from the Philippines and surround area, not only is their care super difficult since you also need to keep the Non-Photosynthetic Seafan they live on healthy in addition to the seahorses, the collection permits you need are super difficult to obtain so I highly doubt we'll have any. I believe the Steinhart Aquarium is the only Aquarium in the US to have brought them over and bred them and they mentioned it took a few years to just get the permits and I don't think they have Pygmy Seahorses in their collection anymore.
However 3 species that are fairly common in Public Aquariums, the Aquarium trade, and bred in captivity that are from the Coral Triangle are; H. kuda (Yellow Kuda Seahorse) / H. comes (Tiger Tail Seahorse) / H. whitei (New Holland Seahorse). Out of these 3 species, I believe the most likely candidate would be H. kuda since the plan is to have a Seagrass display in the "At home in the Ocean" gallery and H. kuda naturally occurs in Seagrass beds and Macroalgae flats so it lines up pretty well. Add some other seahorse safe species in there such as a species of Pipefish or Mandarin and that would make out for a really awesome display. Of course this is just speculation but I really hope it comes into fruition.
View attachment 654343
While almost all of the species are at the offsite facility, it seems like the Social Media team wants to space out the time they release the Animal Care Stories videos to build up hype which makes sense. I'm hoping the next few come out soon since they should be really good, I'm especially waiting for the Bowmouth Guitar Shark episode since their story of how they got here is incredible.

I can't talk about much of what I've heard, however I was able to get a closer look at some these pictures in person since they're up in the offices and a few key species and things stood out to me for these two tanks specifically that are really exciting. Keep in mind, the final result will look a bit different than what the concept art images show, such as I've heard the mangrove lagoon might look a bit different than what the art shows. However, it looks like a majority of the species shown are accurate.

Seagrass Tank species: So a closer look at the Seagrass Tank reveals two species of really exciting fish. While they aren't the Kuda Seahorses like I was suspecting, it looks we could see Weedy Sea Dragons (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) and / or Ribboned Pipefish (Haliichthys taeniophorus) on display. Now both species have different temperature requirements (the dragons being coldwater while the pipefish are more tropical) so I'm guessing it's one or the other. I'm not sure if any aquarium is breeding the Pipefish in captivity, but a few aquariums such as the Birch Aquarium in San Diego which is somewhat close has a big bunch of Juvinile Weedy Sea Dragons that could make their way over. If not the Weedy Sea Dragons, I suspect the Seagrass Tank could house both the Ribboned Pipefish and Ornate Ghost Pipefish (Solenostomus paradoxus) or some other Solenostomus species that are sometimes found in Eelgrass and Macroalgae Flats. If I had to choose, it'd probably be the Pipefish since the building is all tropical unless that would be the sole Coldwater system for the Sea Dragons.

Giant Non-Photosynthetic Coral Display
In the back, you can also see the concept of a giant Non-Photosynthetic Coral display. The art features Sun Corals, Blueberry Gorgonians, Wire Corals, and other species we already have, but this would be a significant upgrade tank size wise and hopefully means there will be room for some deepwater fish that are naturally found in Deep, Mesophotic reefs.

Non-Digital Signage
Something I'm hoping is true since it'd be a big upgrade is the signage, at least for the "At home in the Ocean" gallery where this picture is from shows the use of Non-Digital Signage which is such a relief because personally I hate the TV signs we have in the Pacific Coral Reef Gallery and was hoping it wouldn't carry over to the Ocean Pavilion and that looks to be case. The signs are placed in horizontal fashion on the sides of the tanks with a picture of the species, name, and scientific name (I'm guessing there will be extra information for some of the "cooler species" like the garden eels, flamboyant cuttlefish, etc.)

 

[Northwest_FIsh_Keeping]

Animal Care Store Episode 7: Bowmouth Guitarfish! I'm so excited to be able to talk about them finally (even if I did accidentally spill it earlier in the thread). A Female Bowmouth Guitarfish (Rhina ancylostoma) will be apart of the 7 species of Elasmobranchs that will be in the Ocean Pavilion. I think I explained the backstory earlier but to recap: The mother was caught alive in a fishing net that was off the coast of Taiwan. The owners put her into a holding tank where almost overnight, she gave birth to a number of pups (I believe it was 8) and weren't able to be released back into the wild because that area has no marine protection acts. So a conservation partner donated all 9 Bowmouth Guitarfish with the intent of starting a breeding program in the US in the future. They all came to the aquarium and were Quarantined before being sent to other aquariums. Shedd received 3, Georgia received 2 males and 1 female pups (I'd imagine they got the mother as well since they do have mature males and a mature female), and Disney's "Seas with Nemo & Friends" at Epcot (an unspecified number but a blog post back in June mentions 1 which would match up to how many are left), and we kept 1 female.
I believe this makes us the only aquarium on the west coast of the United States to display this species. They're listed as Critically Endangered so to be able to display them as a big conservation piece is really awesome.

Out of all the Sharks and Rays, this Bowmouth is the only one that is from the wild. Everyone else was either born in captivity or from another aquarium. If the number is still right, there are 26 Sharks and Rays that will be in the OP [mentioned from a Seattle times post] (a massive increase from the 3 Spiny Dogfish we have in the underwater dome). This number is distributed between 7 species and is: Zebra Sharks (3) (1 M / 2 F) / Blacktip Reef Sharks (no specific number publicly released) / Leopard Whiptail Ray (1) / Blue Spotted Mask Rays (2 females) / Bowmouth Guitarfish (1 female) / Spotted Eagle Rays (3) / and a smaller species of shark I don't think I'm allowed to say yet. Based on it's habitat and size, I'd expect this species to be living in the Offshore / Coastal Reef that'll be apart of the Archipelago exhibit. I believe it's a pretty rare species to see in Public Aquariums so that's exciting.