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They may not be warm and fuzzy, but you'll feel warm and fuzzy after seeing the new babies in the Yawkey Coral Reef Center. And if you haven't been bowled over because of all the cute, these baby boxfishes will endear themselves to you once your hear about their journey.

Educator (and frequent blogger) Jo Blasi snapped these pics of the über adorable baby cowfish. So much cute!

Boxfishes are common sights on reefs in Florida and the Caribbean, but this particular duo—a trunkfish and a cowfish—was collected this past summer by the Aquarium and Biomes Marine Biology Center staff and volunteers in totally-not-tropical Rhode Island! They are what we refer to lovingly as “Gulf Stream orphans” — a.k.a. tiny reef dwellers that get caught up within the current of the Gulf Stream and cannot escape until they’re swept up north to New England.

During the summer and early fall months they can live in the bays and inlets where water temperatures are often in the mid-sixties to low-seventies. Under collection permits issued by the state, Aquarium staff and volunteers head to Rhode Island every summer and fall to dive and seine for these young tropical fishes. This is a rescue mission of sorts because while these fishes can survive up north in the warmer months, they certainly would succumb to the colder water temperatures once winter settles in.



When we collect on our expeditions in the Bahamas, we make sure to visit a wide range of diving sites in order to minimize our impact on the breeding populations on the reefs. These Gulf Stream orphans would never have been able to travel back down to Florida or the Caribbean, so once they’re swept up here they are completely out of the potential reproductive population for that species. Increasing our efforts the past few years to collect Gulf Stream orphans is just another way the New England Aquarium is working towards even more sustainable animal collection practices.

Spot the seining net on the beach with other equipment needed to transport the wayward young'uns.

When collecting in Rhode Island the easiest species to spot while diving are the spotfin butterflyfishes. Bright white and yellow, they dart from rock pile to rock pile close to the shore. Catching them is a whole different story. Aquarists work in teams of two or three to surround these tiny fish until they can get close enough to guide them into their collecting nets. Boxfishes are often only found when seining in seagrass beds along the shore.

The Gulf Stream orphans are transported back to our offsite facility in Quincy. The fish receive the same attentive care that they do on Central Wharf as they go through routine quarantine treatments and get regular check-ups by our vet staff. And then it's eat, eat, eat until they are large enough to to go onto exhibit.

After a quick ride on the Southeast Expressway, fishes like the cowfish and trunkfish can be added to several different exhibits at the Aquarium home. In addition to these boxfishes and butterflyfishes in our Yawkey Gallery, you can find other Gulf Stream orphans all around the Aquarium.

In the Blue Hole exhibit keep your eye out for these Gulf Stream orphans, the short bigeye,  a bright red, stout fish with large round eyes.

When they get large enough to fend for themselves, many of these Gulf Stream orphan species, such as snowy groupers, scamps, bandtail puffers and spotfin butterflyfish can, be found in the Giant Ocean Tank. These little fish grow up fast, too! So get yourself to the exhibits at the top of the G.O.T. to see these baby fish before they grow up!

Cowfish have horns, trunkfish do not

— Shannon, aquarist in Quincy Animal Care Center

It should be no surprise to learn that the dwarf seahorse (Hippocampus zosterae) is one of the smallest seahorse species. The adults on exhibit in the Yawkey Coral Reef Center are only about an inch long!

Dwarf seahorses are impossibly tiny. They inhabit shallow grass beds.

Like other seahorse species, the males have an abdominal pouch where they brood eggs delivered by females. Although males become “pregnant,” seahorses do not display sex role reversal. Males compete with one another for access to a mate and form monogamous pair bonds. Many of the seahorses in the exhibit have paired off and you know what happens next—babies!

If you look closely at the photo below you'll see some of the babies clinging to the grassy habitat in the exhibit. They look like the adults only much, much tinier. It doesn't take too long for the juveniles to grow up however. In fact, some of the adults on exhibit now were born on exhibit!

Can you see the baby clinging to the grasses on the middle right?

The dwarf seahorses exhibit in the Yawkey Coral Reef Center deserves a closer look—because those babies are so tiny you'll need to take a good long look to find them!

The adult and baby seahorses cling to the grasses in the exhibit.

You might have overlooked some of the newest residents of the Yawkey Coral Reef Center, and that's just how our new decorator crabs (Podochela sidney) like it. You see, these delicate crustaceans cover themselves with elements found in their environment—like seaweed or sponges or even little anemones—so they blend in.

This compact exhibit features two decorator crabs, a purple spotted shrimp, several juvenile pipefish and a spotted batfish. Can you spot the decorator crabs?

Here are some clues to help you find these guys hiding in plain sight. They're only a couple inches from leg to leg. There's a pinkish anemone growing on each crab's back. They have also collected pieces of algae and affixed them to their spindly legs with the help of tiny spikes that act almost like velcro. At the end of one crab's legs, it has attached hunks clam overlooked by the resident batfish—mmm, tasty.

Here's a close up look. Can you see it now? The crab is holding up one of its claws, the second crab is out of focus in the background.

But these crabs didn't always looks so green and ruffly. They arrived with a much different aesthetic based on their previous habitat, which was dominated by orange sponges.

The disguises attached to the crab's legs were mostly chunky bits of sponge.

Like all new arrivals at the Aquarium, these crabs had to go through a brief quarantine period. During this time they started to shed their old look and incorporate bits of their new surroundings.

Decorator crab in transition: Note the beginnings of the seaweed ruffles on its legs

Transformation complete!

This species of crab is native to the Caribbean. It lives in coral reefs at 10 to 30 feet deep. Each one can grow nearly 4 inches from the tip of one long, thin leg to the other. Underneath all that flare, these decorator crabs are a beige to reddish color.

Now on exhibit, you can see these handsome crustaceans in all their festive attire!

• How does your garden (eel colony) grow
• Meet some small wonders around the Aquarium
• A fish that goes bump in the night
• Meet some of the larger lobsters in the cold-water Northern Waters gallery
• See how a large lobster molts out of its shell
• And check out this unique even: A hermit crab spawning event

It lurks in the darkness…hiding within the coral crevices. Known as the black widow, this mysterious creature slithers out of its watery home at night, searching for unsuspecting prey. Divers search the inky blackness to find this elusive animal, only to be disappointed and turned away by the black beauty…

The brotula in its natural habitat Credit: Fishbase. Uploaded by Cláudio L. S. Sampaio

Just in time for Halloween, the Aquarium has a special guest on exhibit in the fourth floor’s Yawkey Coral Reef Center. Known as a black widow, or the less frightening name of “black brotula”, the new Stygnobrotula latebricola is only a few inches long and is native to tropical waters from the Bahamas to Brazil.

This new resident is rare to see in aquariums and is the first of its kind here at Central Wharf. However, they are also hard to see in the wild. They are known as cryptic animals, using their shallow reefs and rocky ledge homes to hide during the day. This helps this slow moving creature to avoid predators.

Lots of good places to hide!

Though it does hide from time to time, our current resident can be seen out and about looking for food. They eat small crustaceans, even parasites on other animals, and you can sometimes see small prey items floating in the exhibit with the brotula.

Out and about, looking for a mid-day snack

There’s no telling how long this creature will haunt the halls of the Aquarium. Make sure to come visit this special guest…if you dare!

You usually find them bobbing and swaying in their central exhibit, searching for a passing nugget of food. But in one blink of an eye, they can quickly disappear into their sandy burrows en masse—zooop! Meet the garden eels, slender and sometimes shy seafloor dwellers in the Yawkey Coral Reef Center.

Garden eels sway in the currents | Photo: visitor picture

In this exhibit you'll find mostly brown and yellow garden eels. They are found in Caribbean coral reef ecosystems—like the one in the Giant Ocean Tank. They cluster their borrows together in a colony, and you'll rarely find one swimming around. Instead you can see them pop their heads and bodies out looking for detritus or plankton to eat. With a mass of swaying garden eels rooted to the sandy floor, it almost looks like grasses—thus the name, garden eel.

Each animal fits so snugly in its burrows, you might wonder how it managed to make that home. Well take a look at this video. It was taken moments after the eels were introduced to their new exhibit this summer. Watch one of them make its new home, the start of our garden eel colony!



While garden eels are found on Caribbean coral reefs just like the ecosystem inside the Giant Ocean Tank, we think these special animals deserve a closer look. Their special exhibit at the top of the tank lets you get close to these graceful and fascinating animals. Just be sure not to spook them, because they can hide in a flash!

Come by and take a look sometime. Buy your tickets in advance on our website, then you can print them at home. Just be sure to bring your camera.