The health of our animals is something we take very seriously at the Aquarium. If an animal requires medical care, we can many times treat those injuries or illnesses while the animal remains on exhibit. Sometimes, however, this isn’t possible. In these cases, the animals are taken out of their exhibit spaces and given some TLC behind the scenes.

Home Sweet Blue Hole

The Blue Hole exhibit, located on the second floor, has a number of resident goliath groupers. Recently, one grouper developed some health issues: it wasn’t eating normally and had some trouble regulating its buoyancy. As the Blue Hole is one of the largest gallery exhibits, it would have been very difficult to treat the animal effectively while on exhibit. As a result, the grouper was placed in a large holding tank behind the scenes. After a couple of months of care and monitoring, the health issues cleared up and it was time for the grouper to head home!

Getting ready to leave the holding exhibit

Moving a goliath grouper, even a relatively small one, is no easy task! A team of staff and volunteers assembled in the morning and came up with a plan to move the fairly large fish out of holding and down the narrow hallway to its exhibit. Along the way, it would be weighed by the veterinarians to see how it had been growing.

Making sure everyone is on the same page

Once the plan was in place, it was time to capture the grouper in its temporary home. After just a few minutes, the staff was able to maneuver the large grouper into a long, black stretcher. This method of moving the fish was much easier than other methods! The behind the scenes work areas are very narrow, with not a lot of room to maneuver a big holding container. The stretcher was much easier for the staff...and the grouper.

Up and over!

Once the animal was lifted out of the holding tank, the veterinarian staff quickly weighed the grouper. The scale showed that the grouper weighed about 70 pounds! And while that is a good sized fish, it’s a relatively small goliath grouper, which have been known to grow up to 800 pounds!

Stretcher is placed on the scale to get a weight

After the weigh-in, the crew moved quickly, carrying the grouper down the hall and then lifted him into the exhibit. It’s a tight fit between the ceiling and the side of the exhibit, but the staff and volunteers did a great job.  Soon enough, the grouper was back home!

Quick dash to the exhibit

To make sure the transition went smoothly for the grouper, the staff remained in the exhibit, keeping a close eye on the fish. The grouper adjusted fairly quickly to its watery home, swimming to a resting spot among the blue hole stalagmites.

Making sure the grouper, located by the red arrow, is adjusting okay

After spending some time in this cozy location, the grouper took a spin around the exhibit before finding yet another cozy spot to rest. Once the staff was satisfied that the grouper was comfortable in the exhibit, it was time to leave and let the grouper settle in. Overall, quite a successful moving day!

Settled in back home

Lobsters have long been part of New England culture and lore. But how much do you know about lobsters' social lives? Turns out they are not so neighborly.

The orange lobster was featured in our fall colors post a couple weeks back, for obvious reasons.

Upstairs from this exhibit in the Aquarium's research laboratory, scientists are working hard studying lobster shell disease. Researchers are also working to understand the science behind lobster shell colorations. Some genetic mutations create wild colors! Other shell colors can be determined by a lobster's diet. Those colors are on display in our lobster nursery in the Blue Planet Action Center.

Come visit the Aquarium because there's probably a lot of lobsters that you don't know yet!

One part...of five

Strong stuff!

Light the way?

I spy with my little eye...

Done guessing? Think you know what each item is or belongs to? Okay...let's see if you were right!

First up...the furry nose.

The nose knows...

Harbor seal!

If you think that furry nose belongs to one of our marine mammals, you would be right! The nose above belongs to one of our harbor seals. Located in the front of the Aquarium, our harbor seals look sleek underwater. But once they have some time to dry, particularly when they are molting and growing in a new fur coat, you can see their fur clearly.

The second closeup can be found in the tide pool touch tank. That's right, a sea star!

One part of the whole...four more parts to go!

If you take a close look, or better yet feel the surface, of the sea star, you'll notice small, raised bumps. These bumps help keep the skin of the star clean, which is important as their gills are on the surface!

The next set of items should look familiar-you have similar looking bones in your body, though much smaller in size. These large items are some vertebrae of the North Atlantic right whale skeleton!

Strong stuff!

Hanging above the penguin exhibit, the whale skeleton gives visitors an idea of how large these animals can be. With only around 500 of them left, New England Aquarium researchers work hard to document the population in the area. This skeleton has been at the Aquarium for quite some time and came from an animal stranded on a beach. [Get a feel for the work these right whale researchers do in the field, check out the Right Whale Research Blog!]

Okay, next one! Is it a strange, bioluminescent jelly? Sunlight off some glass panel? Nope! That glowing fin fits in on the shark wall!

Light the way?

See some sharks on the shark wall

This exhibit feature showcases the silhouettes of different shark species. Many visitors don't stop to take a look, but it's definitely worth checking out! The species depicted are full size, so it's a great way to compare the size of some larger species, including basking and white sharks, with smaller species like the spiny dogfish. It's not just a pretty wall covering-it's a well-lit way to learn about sharks!

Now...what about that eye...

I spy with my little eye...

Nassau grouper in the Giant Ocean Tank

Meet the Nassau grouper, one of 120 species inside the Giant Ocean Tank! These large fish hang out towards the bottom of the exhibit, resting near sandy trays or against coral structures. You may even find these larger fish being cleaned by cleaner gobies and wrasses. Keep an "eye" out for them at the bottom of the exhibit!

So next time you are feeling overwhelmed by all of the cool things the Aquarium has to offer, take a closer look! It's a great way to slow down and see some amazing animal or exhibit details you might not have seen before!

See the colors of fall today! Buy a ticket online today—no ticketing surcharges.

Fall has arrived in New England and with it comes cool, crisp days, pumpkin-flavored everything and the leaves changing from green to vibrant reds, oranges and yellows. At the Aquarium, we take the tradition of looking at fall foliage in a whole new, watery direction!

Leaves of a different sort

What's a good place to start looking at fall foliage in the exhibit space? Take a look at the leafy seadragons! The leafy extensions on their body help them camouflage into their environment, and their exhibit! By moving slowly within the gently swaying seaweed, these animals seamlessly blend in to their surroundings. (For another take on camouflage, check out this post on countershading!)

A tree with leaves? Nope—a scarlet psolus feeding!

In other parts of the Aquarium, bright fall colors are on display. Oranges, rusty reds, vibrant yellows all work together to create a seasonal tableau that signals, for many, the favorite New England season. So where to look for these amazing colors?

Orange and red sea anemones peek out at the tide pool

Want to see some orange on display? There are lots of animals to choose from. Take a look at the sea anemones in the Edge of the Sea tidepool touch tank. These jelly relatives range in color from browns to reds in New England, but the ones on exhibit here are bright orange. (The springy green variety is found in our Northern Waters gallery. Check out the video here...wait for it...)

A favorite resident with fall-colored hues is the enormous lobster in our boulder reef exhibit. While this fella is the more traditional dark brown with notes of orange, lobsters can change their color depending on their diet or genetics. Check out the rainbow of baby crustaceans in the Blue Planet Action Center's lobster nursery.

Look for this hefty resident in the cold water of the Northern Waters gallery.

Is yellow more your color? Not to worry. Look no further than our salt marsh exhibit. Having been replanted with live vegetation from a local salt marsh just recently, the grasses and other plants are in full bloom. Mustard yellow flowers are at the front of the space, giving the exhibit a fall season feel.

New England salt marsh colors

Not to be limited to the colder climates, the tropics have its share of yellow inhabitants. Vibrant yellow tanks can be found tropical Pacific Reef exhibit. Tangs do come in many different colors and patterns. This diversity helps them blend into their coral reef home.

Vibrant yellows from the tropics

And while these animals highlight predominantly one fall color, we have animals on exhibit that manage to combine these fall colors into amazing displays, much like the woods of New England. The Asian arowana, located in the Ancient Fishes exhibit, demonstrates this perfectly! Large scales on their body fade from brown to orange to gold. And while it only has two main colors, the bi-colored goatfish in the West Wing brings some yellow and red to the party.

Fall colors on every scale

Bi-colored goatfish is ready for the season

So if you finding yourself craving some fall foliage and are looking for the colors of fall, you can certainly head to the woods of New England. Want to stay a closer to Boston? Come and visit the New England Aquarium and take in the many colors of the season. You can even wear your comfy sweater.

Blackbelly Rose Fish doing some leaf peeping?

Many people are familiar with the “tuxedo” coloration of our African penguins. The white belly and black backs are distinctive and well known. But ever wonder why they have this coloration? Believe it or not, it’s a form of camouflage called countershading. And it's not just for penguins—many aquatic animals have this special coloration.

Recently Allison Langone, a summer intern with the New England Aquarium lobster lab, stumbled upon a very unique lobster larvae. Check out this newly-hatched conjoined twin!

Conjoined lobster larvae

The conjoined larvae seems to be conjoined on its back side only. Each “twin” has a full set of legs, which is four pairs of walking legs and a pair of claws. It looks like even more than the usual because larvae have extra appendages off their legs. It has two separate beating hearts. The intestinal tracts seem to function—you can see food in the right larva's intestine—though they seem to share stomachs (lobsters have 2 stomachs). These animals also share a set of eyes.


Interestingly, the larva seems to swim fine. In its holding tank, it swam around a bit before heading down to the bottom. Even with special care, an animal like this is never expected to live long. This animal died after a week or so.

This unique lobster hatched in the Aquarium's research lobster hatchery—the last year-round U.S. production facility for American lobsters. Our researchers are on the forefront of American lobster aquaculture research, investigating new and improved methods for raising lobsters in captive environments. Our scientists are investigating nutritional requirements and pigmentation in captive-reared American lobsters. They are also collaborating with fishermen and scientists to develop a greater understanding of Lobster Shell Disease.

A juvenile lobster in the nursery in a lovely shade of orange

Learn more about lobsters and their many shades of shell:

• Lobsters shed their shells periodically—watch a molt happen in pictures
• Aquarium scientist Michael Tlusty explains the colorful chemistry of lobster shells
• Meet a little lobster lost in the touch tank
• Don't forget about the Caribbean spiny lobsters!
• This is real: A bi-colored lobster split straight down the middle
• And here's a fancy calico lobster shell
• You'll never guess how lobsters communicate
• This big guy was spared the dinner plate and found a new home at the Aquarium

Now that you're all experts, come see traditional lobsters—with eight walking legs and a pair of power claws (one crusher and one pincer)! Plan a visit to the Aquarium! The Northern Waters gallery features several handsome adults scurrying around their cold-water exhibit. Look for wee juveniles in the lobster nursery at the Blue Planet Action Center. They're just tiny versions of the adults—complete with the unexpected colors!

You can find American lobsters (Homarus americanus) on exhibit at the Aquarium every day. From the tiny juveniles in the Blue Planet Action Center to the heavy-weights carving out territories in the chilly habitat of the Northern Waters Gallery. Plan a visit today to see New England's favorite crustacean. 

Here's a story of a lobster rite of growing up—molting—brought to you by guest blogger and volunteer Daire Gaj.

What do you do if you're a lobster and you're growing too big for your shell? Climb out of your shell and grow a new one! That's what one of our lobsters behind the scenes did a couple of weeks ago.

Scroll through these pictures to see how molting happens!




















A lobster will undergo many molts in the process of growing up. It's not often that we get to see a lobster molt, though Anita Kim caught it on video back in 2009.

Anita, manager of the Aquarium lobster lab, has watched hundreds of lobsters grow up. She says that lobsters will molt most frequently when they are young, approximately once every two weeks. As they grow older, their growth slows and they may molt once a month. The oldest lobsters will molt once every few years. How long can they continue? Anita says their natural lifespan is unknown. With a tree, you can measure its age by counting the rings in its trunk; with a fish you can count the rings in its ear bones, but lobsters offer no visible indicator of age. It's possible they may be able to reach a hundred years or more.

Lobsters have an advantage when it comes to longevity, because they can regenerate body parts when they molt. “It's like getting a fresh start,” Anita says. This lobster was in the process of regrowing lost claws when it molted. You can see one of its partially grown claws in this photo from early in the process.

The highlighted version shows where the tiny regrown claw was

Sadly this lobster is now clawless again. It appears the molt did not go perfectly, and the lobster had to leave its claws inside the exoskeleton. Anita says it will happen from time to time that lobsters eject their claws while molting. “The claws are typically the difficult part,” she says, picking up a model of a lobster, and pointing to the complicated joints in the feeding claws. So imagine trying to take off a pair of tight-fitting gloves, both at the same time.

The good news is that it will have plenty of time to grow its claws again. While its brothers and sisters in the open ocean are using their claws to break open mollusks, this lobster will be getting chopped shrimp delivered via room service in its home behind the scenes.   

And if you think that's cool, you might be interested in this video of a juvenile lobster molting behind the scenes in our lobster research lab!

Juvenile lobster in the nursery

See lobsters like this juvenile at the Aquarium's lobster nursery! Imagine how many molts are ahead of this little guy. Plan a visit today.