The cuttlefish exhibit is squirming with some new tentacles these days. There are currently two species hovering about this exhibit in the tropical gallery right now. Let's get to know these cunning cephalopods!

Find the cuttlefish exhibit on Level One in the Tropical Gallery, right across from the little blue penguins

First up, the pharaoh cuttlefish (Sepia pharaonis). These cuttlefish are juveniles, only around 3 to 4 months old. They will get considerably larger than their neighbors, the dwarf cuttles. Pharaoh cuttlefish differ from the common cuttlefish in that around their mantle, they have a blue iridescent ring of color.

This pharaoh cuttle's blue/purple ring of color around its mantle is easy to spot in this picture

Look for the pharaoh cuttlefish near the bottom of the exhibit, blending into the sandy substrate.

Dwarf cuttlefish (Sepia bandensis)

Cuttlefish are masters at camouflage and can change the color of their skin to blend in to its surroundings or to communicate with fellow cuttlefish.

• Stop what you're doing and watch this video right now
• Now that you'v watched the video, learn a bit about the common cuttlefish
• Did you know cuttlefish lay eggs?

And they live in the colorful Pacific Reef Community at the New England Aquarium. We're talking about two unique and beautiful species of fish with "unicorn" in their common names!

Can you find the unicorn tang and bignose unicornfish in this picture?

Without even knowing its common name, you might guess that this fish is known as a unicorn. It's the unicorn tang with an impressive horn protruding from the area near its eyes. These fish can grow to be more than a foot long, light bluish color with a gray underbelly. While these fish are listed as Least Concern according to the IUCN Red List, this species is a targeted food fish. There have been significant reductions in biomass in parts of its range.

Unicorn tang (Naso unicornis)

Now the bignose unicornfish is easy to distinguish from the other unicorn in the exhibit. This fish is more than a foot long with a darker blue pattern of dots and vertical lines. Most notably, adults develop a rounded snout and unusually tall dorsal and anal fins. Their populations are stable, listed of least concern according to the IUCN. But they are usually found on coral reefs, which are vulnerable as a result of degraded by water pollution, human pollution pressures, overfishing, tourism, Crown of Thorns sea star outbreaks and coral bleaching.

Bignose unicornfish (Naso vlaningii)

In the wild, you can find bignose unicornfish throughout the Indo Pacific in lagoons and seaward reefs. These are among the larger fish in the exhibit so it'll be easy to spot them weaving their way through the colorful corals along the tank.

Look for these unicorns on Level One near the rockhopper penguins. The Pacific Reef Community is buzzing with colors, patterns and movement. And if you're feeling adventurous, try to spot the dragons on Level Two! 

There's a certain, beloved Disney movie that almost always comes up during a visit to the Aquarium. In particular, there's a lot of finding in the Tropical Gallery on the first floor. You know what we're talking about. Yup, Finding Nemo! And you can see three species from the movie in the vibrant Pacific Reef Community.

The familiar fins of Nemo | via Wikimedia Commons

First up, the distinctive stripes and bright orange color of the clownfish! There are a couple species of clownfish in this exhibit, but it's the Ocellaris clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) that folks will recognize as Nemo. These are smaller fish that will grow to be only a couple inches long, at the most. And it's obvious that these little guys are on the smaller end of the spectrum in this exhibit.

Look closely! The clownfish usually hide out along the back of the exhibit toward the right. But some folks have been able to get up-close and personal with these fish during a  Behind-the-Scenes Tours.

While clownfish in the wild (and the living coral exhibit) usually make a home in an anemone, this pair has carved out a small territory where they feel safe. Look for them at the far right side of the exhibit, along the back wall (see picture).

Palette surgeonfish

There are around eight palette surgeonfish in the exhibit

Moorish idol

In Finding Nemo, Gill heads up the Tank Gang

The cast of Finding Nemo are just some of the Pacific Reef Community residents

Just steps away from the bottom of the Giant Ocean Tank, filled with its vibrant species from the Caribbean, you'll find the Armed and Venomous exhibit. This exhibit is filled with interesting fish including the rockfish, pufferfish, and the lionfish—with its dramatic fins and destructive spines.

These days, lionfish can also be found in Caribbean reefs, but that's not a good thing. This invasive species has no natural predators in these reefs, and divers are finding them in increasing numbers. And yet... Even though they are an unwelcome sight on Caribbean reefs, they are quite beautiful. Their graceful fins and and bold stripes are captivating, and that's all the more evident in this stunning slow-motion video. Take a look.



Learn more about lionfish!

• Invasion of the lionfish
• Lionfish are tasty 
• A disturbing sight in Belize
• Student encounters

This video was also used in our first television ad campaign in decades! Watch the videos and check out last summer's full ad campaign.

Ask some serious fish nerds what their favorite animal is and there is a good chance that they will mention cuttlefish, which are both freaky and very cool. Take a minute to watch this stunning slow-motion video (with their real-time counterpart clips) of the cuttlefish feeding and changing color and you'll know what we're talking about.



This super-crisp, slow-motion video was a collaboration between New England Aquarium, an underwater photographer, a physicist and a local tech company. At 500 frames per second, the footage appears about 17 times slower than it occurs to the naked eye. The result: a spectacular new window on cuttlefish in action. Did you see how this cunning cephalopod captured its food with two shotgun-like tentacles? Once it snagged the fish, it pulled it into the grasp of eight waiting suction-cupped arms. Learn more about this stunning video.

Cuttlefish are related to squid and octopus. When they feel threatened, they can change color and skin pattern in just a few seconds. The lighting-fast color change is quite subtle in the slow-motion video.

Cuttlefish change colors and patterns to blend into their surroundings.

The Aquarium’s cuttlefish tank currently houses nine cuttlefish patrolling the water column, wary of some of their pesky neighbors—rays and guitarfish. Come by to see these amazing creatures in action. With special construction pricing in effect, you'll save when you come belly up to this exhibit to marvel at their tentacles and color changing expertise.

Cuttlefish are fascinating for any age!

Can't get enough of these cephalopods? Check out these fun facts, and meet some former Aquarium residents—dwarf cuttlefish.

Cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) are intelligent animals, just like their octopus relatives. They have one of the largest brain-to-body ratios of any invertebrate! Cuttlefish change color and pattern to communicate to other cuttlefish, to camouflage themselves and to warn off potential predators. See video of a cuttlefish changing colors.

FUN FACT: The word sepia (who hasn’t see a sepia toned photo?) comes from Sepiidae, due to the color of cuttlefish ink. Cuttlefish dine on crabs and fish as adults, hatchlings eat small shrimp. They shoot a jet of water to uncover prey buried in substrate. As the prey attempts to flee, cuttlefish open their eight arms and shoot out two long sucker-laden feeding tentacles. [Watch this action in crisp, super-slow-motion video!]





What’s so amazing about cuttlefish? How about a little something called cuttlebone. The cuttlebone, unique to cuttlefish, is porous and made of aragonite, a polymorph of calcium carbonate. Each species' cuttlebone has a distinct shape, size, and pattern, but they all serve the same purpose, buoyancy control. Cuttlefish regulate buoyancy by controlling the gas-to-liquid ratio in the chambers of their cuttlebone via the ventral siphuncle. You may have already seen a cuttlebone before. Pet birds use them for a natural, inexpensive source of calcium carbonate as well as other trace minerals. Jewelers and silversmiths have also used cuttlebone to cast molds.





Cuttlefish inhabit the shallow waters of tropical and temperate oceans. They have been observed venturing to depths of about 600 meters. They have an unusual biogeographic pattern involving total absence from the Americas. They are abundant in Africa and Australia, as well as Eastern and Southern Asia, Western Europe, and the Mediterranean. While the common cuttlefish is heavily fished in the northeast Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, its populations appear to be stable.


Ponder this climate change concern as you observe these amazing cephalopods in their level one exhibit. They're the ones with the eight arms and two tentacles. They share their exhibit with young epaulette sharks, urchins and other warm water animals.

— Caitlin Soden, Aquarium educator

There are thousands of marine animals around the Aquarium—some are small, some are shy and some have unusual lifestyles, at least by human standards.

Take the Little Banggai cardinalfish, (Pterapogon kauderni), for instance.

 
Banggai cardinalfish in the Aquarium's Living Corals exhibit

You can find this species in the “Living Corals” exhibit, (the tank closest to the Gift Shop on the first level). Native to the Banggai Islands of Indonesia, its good looks and ease of breeding make it a popular species in the aquarium trade. Popularity has also created a challenge for the species in the wild—it is currently listed as an endangered species on the IUCN red list.


Male Benggai cardinalfish carrying eggs in his mouth

This is a small, but elegant animal. Look for the fish that appears to be ready for a black tie event, with his black stripes and dramatically forked tail. He sports a sequined gleam and stylishly tasseled fins, sprinkled with decorative white dots. Practically speaking, the cardinalfish’s glamorous attire is suited to his life camouflaged amidst sea grasses, anemones and the long, black spines of the mildly venomous urchin, Diadema.

 
Follow the arrow to see the eggs sitting in this father's mouth.

Now look a little closer—he might not only be ready for a formal night out, he might also be ready for a visit to the maternity ward! If you see a fish with a distinctly larger jaw, you may be looking at a male brooding his young. He has a large oral cavity to accommodate the eggs and young that he nurtures attentively.



In fact, this father doesn’t need the maternity ward for help birthing; he does just fine on his own. You may see him roll the pinkish eggs to rearrange and oxygenate them. Once the eggs have hatched you may even see some tiny eyes peeking out when the male stretches his mouth. As the fry grow and are more difficult to contain, you might see a flurry of fins emerging from the male’s bulging mouth.

When his favorite food is presented in the exhibit, you may see him scurry—in the opposite direction! He doesn’t want to risk any of his young escaping his protection and becoming part of the food chain. In this way he protects his brood of up to 25 young for about 4 to 5 weeks, without ever taking a meal himself. Phew! After that, he might really need a night out!



The aquarists who take care of this exhibit leave a fry collector in the tank overnight in the attempt to catch these babies. We'll update you more on these efforts another time. Stay tuned!

– Lisbeth

Longhorn cowfish in the Tropical Gallery


Native to coral reefs and sandy, muddy habitats of the Indo-Pacific, the longhorn cowfish is named for the long horns protruding from their head and below their tail. Those horns may look comical but they make the cowfish difficult to swallow, a pretty efficient way to avoid being eaten by large predators. And though the horns make break off over time, the cowfish will be able to grow them back in a few months.



Known for the horns as well as a scaly coat of armor, cowfish are not known for their swimming speed. No Olympic medals for these fish! Instead of moving their tail, or caudal fin, for propulsion, they use their dorsal (top) and pectoral (side) fins. Pretty cool! While using this method of swimming, the cowfish often looks like it’s hovering in the water, moving just slightly with a flick of those fins. 




While the cowfish in the Aquarium’s exhibit often moves with this method, one day recently he decided to kick it up a notch! With cameras rolling, the cowfish flicked his tail, moving it in some pretty quick circles! After he settled down, the cowfish went back to his normal swimming pattern. Take a look at the video and see if you can see the different fins helping to propel this fish along.

One of the more intriguing and elusive animals in the Aquarium's Deep Pacific Coral exhibit is the nautilus. These creatures are sometimes called living fossils because they have evolved relatively little over millions of years.



Nautiluses belong to the cephalopod family, featuring a prominent head and many tentacles. Their spiral-shaped shells provide a good example of countershading (like penguins!). When seen from above, the stripes tend to blend into the dark water below. But when seen from below, the white underside blends into brighter water near the surface.



Nautiluses do not have good eyesight. Instead they are thought to use their sense of smell to find prey—like shrimp, small fish and crustaceans. To get around, they use a form of jet propulsion, sucking water into and out of a chamber in their body.

Take a look at this quick video to see how a nautilus glides through its environment. You'll notice that the tank is very dark. That's because these animals live in water that's nearly 1,000 feet deep, where little sunlight penetrates.



Right next to the Deep Pacific Coral exhibit is the new Sea of Cortez display. Meet some of the animals from this tank, like the bluespotted jawfish and the golden-rimmed tang, in previous blog entries about this window into the Pacific Ocean!

Anyone who's visited the Aquarium recently has likely noticed our colorful new Sea of Cortez exhibit on the first floor. If a visitor paused a moment, they may have seen this fascinating little fish doing a little excavating.

Blue spotted jawfish surveys the exhibit from his burrow in the Sea of Cortez exhibit

Bluespotted jawfish (Opistognathus rosenblatti) build their burrows by scooping sand with their large mouths and spitting it out the entrance of the nest. While they do venture out of their burrows to feed on invertebrates in the water column, they are quick to dart back inside when threatened. Check out this short video clip to see the jawfish in action.



The jawfish is just one of several interesting species living in the Sea of Cortez exhibit. This beauty — a Moorish idol (Zanclus cornutus) — is the only known member of its taxonomic family. The name is purportedly derived from the an ancient belief that they bring happiness to those who encounter them.

The Moorish idol is one of the handsome residents of the Sea of Cortez exhibit on Level One.

And then there's the gold-rimmed tang. Learn more about its territorial spinning behavior in this previous post. Plus the Cortez rainbow wrasse, the keyhole angel, and the list goes on. There's also a whole other marine habitat in this exhibit, too — a deep Pacific coral environment. See a video of this display here.

The Sea of Cortez, also known as the Gulf of California, is a special corner of our marine world. As one of the most biologically diverse marine areas in the world, it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005. (The Phoenix Island Protected Area was named a World Heritage Site this year! Learn more about this Pacific Ocean marine protected area that the Aquarium helped create on the PIPA Blog.) Come on down to the Aquarium to glimpse a slice of this vibrant ocean habitat right here in Boston!