And his name is Chance, which was one of the name options for Cardiff!
SeaWorld San Diego SeaWorld San Diego News
- Thread starter gerenuk
- Start date
Jewels of the Sea: A Jellyfish Experience is exciting because the park had seemingly abandoned the idea of opening new animal exhibits. There's a tiny bit more information in this article:
SeaWorld San Diego to launch jellyfish exhibit in 2025, reinvent 'Journey to Atlantis'
BlobfishBoy
Well-Known Member
The park even acknowledged on social media that this is their first new animal exhibit in over 10 years! Hopefully they’ll consider more animal exhibits, as I know there’s wasted space in the park (where that defunct ride submarine quest was) and untapped potential with their apparently interesting bird collection kept either behind the scenes or in aviaries in obscure locations in the park.
The Jellyfish exhibit is actually going in where the submarine ride used to be. But there is definitely still space for new exhibits where Aquaria World of Fishes used to be and in the old freshwater aquarium. The latter has been a proposed spot for a new restaurant multiple times.
At the very bottom it mentions the park will be “reinventing” Journey to Atlantis, could mean an updated aquarium, something more fitting for fish and rays instead of dolphins?
Visit from 12/03/2024:
Didn’t see the fur seals in the pinniped area today. Just California Sealions, no harbor seals either.
Only walrus Basa was out today.
The 2 rescued common dolphin calves were quite active at the stadium back pool today!
This was the first time I have seen the pilot whales in the dolphin presentations with the dolphins in the finale since Bubbles and Shadow! Piper and Ava did great!
Two killer whales were in the med pool all day today. One of the larger males and a smaller female. Hopefully just a grouping and rotation and everyone is doing well. Will visit again on Friday and see if still in med pool.
Didn’t see the fur seals in the pinniped area today. Just California Sealions, no harbor seals either.
Only walrus Basa was out today.
The 2 rescued common dolphin calves were quite active at the stadium back pool today!
This was the first time I have seen the pilot whales in the dolphin presentations with the dolphins in the finale since Bubbles and Shadow! Piper and Ava did great!
Two killer whales were in the med pool all day today. One of the larger males and a smaller female. Hopefully just a grouping and rotation and everyone is doing well. Will visit again on Friday and see if still in med pool.
Local_Shark
Well-Known Member
Any new animal exhibit at this park is fantastic news. I am definitely hoping for a much-needed update of Shark Encounter to come at some point in the next few years, and hopefully the same for the penguin building as well. It used to be revolutionary, but it now 100% needs to be put at least close to the par of the one at Orlando. I would love to see replacements for the three aquariums that have been removed at the back of the park as well.
zoocentral
Well-Known Member
From the Park's Facebook: Abby, the park's 17-year-old female southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis), has passed away.
From the Park's Website: "Abby was born in July 2007 and rescued from Jalama Beach, California as an infant. She returned to SeaWorld San Diego after raising five healthy pups in Monterey Bay Aquarium's successful otter surrogacy program. Her absolute favorite thing in the world is laying and playing in piles of ice."
From the Park's Website: "Abby was born in July 2007 and rescued from Jalama Beach, California as an infant. She returned to SeaWorld San Diego after raising five healthy pups in Monterey Bay Aquarium's successful otter surrogacy program. Her absolute favorite thing in the world is laying and playing in piles of ice."
On June 27th, the theme park announced they rehabilitated and released a (0.1) green sea turtle back into the wild.
170K views · 3.4K reactions | SeaWorld Rescue | Found last June by NOAA Fisheries Service in the South Bay missing a front flipper and buoyant (a dangerous condition for sea turtles that affects their... | By SeaWorld San Diego | Facebook
On October 8th, the theme park announced they rehabilitated and released a (1.0) olive ridley sea turtle as well as a loggerhead sea turtle back into the wild.
7.7K views · 90 reactions | Zara & Sir Acha | SeaWorld Rescue | The story of the successful rehabilitation and return of sea turtles Zara and Sir Acha is ultimately one of collaboration and is a testament to how much... | By SeaWorld San Diego | Facebook
170K views · 3.4K reactions | SeaWorld Rescue | Found last June by NOAA Fisheries Service in the South Bay missing a front flipper and buoyant (a dangerous condition for sea turtles that affects their... | By SeaWorld San Diego | Facebook
On October 8th, the theme park announced they rehabilitated and released a (1.0) olive ridley sea turtle as well as a loggerhead sea turtle back into the wild.
7.7K views · 90 reactions | Zara & Sir Acha | SeaWorld Rescue | The story of the successful rehabilitation and return of sea turtles Zara and Sir Acha is ultimately one of collaboration and is a testament to how much... | By SeaWorld San Diego | Facebook
On January 12th, 2025, the theme park announced that a (0.1) southern sea otter named Abby passed away at age 17.
SeaWorld San Diego
Northwest_FIsh_Keeping
Well-Known Member
I remember a little over a year ago there was an exhibit designer from the park that came and visited us at Seattle and asked me a bunch of questions about the lighting effect we did for our "Jelly Donut" tank, at the time he said they were building something similar to it for the exhibit (sounds like the "Archway" Tank they're talking about in the article), now I'm interested to see how it turns out. You can never have too many Jelly exhibits IMO
0.1 California sea lion Zoe passed away on November 25th, 2024, with her cause of death listed as follows: Euthanasia (Cancer/Abnormal Growth). Zoe was rescued in 2005.
SeaWorld and the city of San Diego are no longer feuding over back rent from covid closure, they reached agreeable terms and the park paid up. That should take a bit of the negative press off again. I was hoping they'd settle peacefully as San Diego was threatening to default their land lease there for awhile. Also thankfully PETA's attempt to meddle was denied.
It’s official: San Diego gets $8.5M check from SeaWorld, ending years-long dispute – San Diego Union-Tribune
It’s official: San Diego gets $8.5M check from SeaWorld, ending years-long dispute – San Diego Union-Tribune
2.1 harbor seals Gracie, Billy, and Elmer were returned to the Bahia Hotel on January 9th, 2025. They had been in San Diego since November 19th, 2024.
There have also been two bottlenose births --
1.0 born on December 22nd, 2024
0.1 born on January 2nd, 2025, who died January 3rd
There have also been two bottlenose births --
1.0 born on December 22nd, 2024
0.1 born on January 2nd, 2025, who died January 3rd
King of Komodo Dragons
Well-Known Member
March 15th, confirmed as the opening date for the new jellyfish exhibit!
https://fox5sandiego.com/entertainm...ning-date-for-long-awaited-jellyfish-exhibit/
https://fox5sandiego.com/entertainm...ning-date-for-long-awaited-jellyfish-exhibit/
Northwest_FIsh_Keeping
Well-Known Member
Not going to lie, of course we could hear more closer to opening, but the lack of species diversity is a little disappointing.
Especially being the first live animal exhibit in a while, seeing only 3 species is a little lack luster in my opinion. The architecture sounds awesome, i really want to see how those tank turned out, but Moons, Upside Downs, and Pacific Nettles are pretty common staples. I'd love to see them throw in some other common ones like the Spotted Lagoons, Blubbers, Warty Comb Jellies, etc. We'll see, hopefully there's more to be revealed
Not likely, common species is SeaWorlds current MO. The last new animal exhibit at San Diego only included Japanese Spider Crabs, Giant Pacific Octopus, and Moray Eels. Diversity and conservation and not the goal with any new animal exhibits. Maybe the Aquaria of the Fishes referb will have better diversity but for the jellies I wouldn’t expect anything in line with what the other west coast aquariums are doing with jellies.
BlobfishBoy
Well-Known Member
Is this referb you're referring to the old freshwater aquarium?
No, the freshwater aquarium has been marked by SeaWorld as a possible location for a new restaurant for years now. There have been plans in the past and even permits pulled to do it but none of them have come to fruition. Aquaria World of Fishes is and Aquarium that used to be located behind the large tidepools above shipwreck reef, here’s a picture: Aquaria: World of Fishes - Exterior - ZooChat
It closed three or four years ago and included four large tanks: one freshwater for large species like Pacu and Alligator Gar, a California Kelp first tank with mostly Leopard Sharks, a Piranha tank, a Gulf of California reef tank, and some miscellaneous dart frog exhibits. There have been rumors, and I believe some official talk of a new aquarium replacing the old one. It is one of the original structures from when the park first opened so its closure and refurbishment are most likely being done to circumvent issues regarding structural integrity or older facilities.
I’d also like to take back what I said here because as you can see in photos here: SeaWorld San Diego's new jellyfish experience gets opening date
It looks like the exhibit will also include South American Sea Nettles and what looks like Purple-Striped Sea Nettles.
zoocentral
Well-Known Member
Both Aquaria: World of Fishes and Tide Pool were demolished in 2024. The current plan is to turn the area into an expanded rescue facility with guest viewing. However, that is not until Shark Encounter receives its refresh and Penguin Encounter is demolished and replaced by a new exhibit for temperate penguins.