This morning in the Pacific tidepool exhibit it looked like sea star was on the menu.

Spotted in the Northern Waters Gallery

Giant green anemones are sessile creatures, meaning they remain mostly fixed to the sea floor by a smooth, muscular disk. That disk can move about very slowly so these animals often feed opportunistically on fish, crabs, and sea urchins that come their way. Looks like this sea star got a little too close to those stinging tentacles.

It just goes to show you that you never what you'll find at the Aquarium—and in the wild. Last year, photos of a green anemone digesting a cormorant circulated around the internet.

Cool stuff, right? Here are some other links you might enjoy:

• See video of the wave action in the Pacific tidepool exhibit.
• Check out cool pictures of the green anemones on our Instagram page.
• Meet another resident of the Northern Waters gallery—the giant Pacific octopus.

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?

The Trust Family Foundation Shark and Ray Touch Tank is an Aquarium favorite. When you walk into the Aquarium's West Wing, it's easy to bee-line right to this beautiful, interactive exhibit filled with gregarious cownose rays and fascinating sharks. But you'd be missing a gem of a tank at the entrance to the exhibit. So stop for second, get quiet and belly up to the live mangrove display on your right.

Here's a quick peek at the tank—Vine-video-style. (If you have the Vine app, look for us @NEAQ!)

This tank is bursting with life—from speedy fish, to colorful anemones to hermit crabs to the upside-down jellies to live plants! Let's get to know a couple of the stars of this tank so you can impress your fellow visitors with your knowledge.

An upside-down jelly

First up, the upside-down jelly, (Cassiopea xamachana). These jellies lie on the sandy bottom with their four branching tentacles left to sway in the water. The bluish fringe contains symbiotic zooxanthallae, which are tiny plants that make food for the jelly. Those tentacles also filter nutrients and plankton out of the water. Scientists studying mangrove ponds in Belize know these tentacles also pack a bit of a sting, too.

By Aquaimages [CC-BY-SA-2.5] via Wikimedia Commons

Don't forget the copperband butterflyfish (Chelmon rostratus). You may have noticed this guy zoom past the camera during the jelly clip. These fast, flat fish have a long snout that helps them eat small crustaceans, worms and coral polyps. It is an asset to this exhibit, too, because it likes to snack on parasites that might hitch a ride into the exhibit!

A speedy fusilier

The double-lined fusilier (Pterocaesio digramma) are easy to spot with two bright yellow stripes against their sleek bluish-silver bodies. While they are related to snapper, they are well adapted to eating smaller prey such as crustaceans that live in the silty layer on the bottom of a mangrove stand.

Photo: Nick Hobgood [CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons

Tube anemones look quite graceful dotting the tank. Take a close look and you'll notice two distinct rings of tentacles and a tube-like body. The outer ring of tentacles is for defense and capturing prey. The inner ring is used to manipulate their food. If disturbed, they can completely retract into their tube! These anemones are different from other anemones, like the green anemones, and attach to the substrate by secreting a hard mucus tube.

via Wikimedia Commons

And what would a mangrove exhibit be without mangrove plants! We have some young plants that have started to put down roots, along with some sculptural mangrove roots. Mangroves are incredibly important marine habitats. They provide a cozy nursery for sharks and other fish to grow up, they are essential for healthy coral reefs, they protect coasts from storm damage and they are a carbon sink! But there has been a 17 percent decline in mangrove forests since 1980, according to the IUCN.

With all the animals that call this tiny tank home, just imagine all the marine animals in the wild that are threatened by the loss of mangrove habitats. The best way to save mangroves is to prevent them from being destroyed in the first place. Conservation organizations around the world are working to protect mangrove forests from deforestation and pollution.

-Dave Allen contributed information for this entry

The green sea anemone may not be one of the most charismatic ocean animals. Of course, it doesn't play with garden hoses for fun like our young sea lions, and it doesn't put on shows for right whale researchers like that calf in the Bay of Fundy. But its vibrant colors and feats of strength make this tidepool resident worthy of a closer look!



Did you know that many of the specimens in this exhibit have been around for decades? These long-lived anemones thrive on the oxygen-rich water that crashes into the exhibit periodically, surprising some visitors. Just take a look...wait for it...

Video originally posted here.

As you can see, the anemones are well-adapted to living in the waves. Waves crush, abrade, and scour. In spite of this, plants and animals have developed special, often ingenious ways of coping. Sea anemones form attachments with a smooth, muscular disk on which they can slide very slowly. They can survive short periods of low tide exposure to the air by retracting their body and tentacles into a round, water-retaining mass. 



The animals in this exhibit hail from the Pacific northwest, like its giant Pacific octopus neighbor. The water is cold and rich with nutrients. You may also find sea stars, kelp, urchins and a few hardy fish in tidepools like this. In the wild, the abundant food supply in these tidepools and adjacent kelp forests also attracts sea otters and seals.

Compare the animals in this tidepool with those that you would find in tidepools around New England. Around here you might find rockweed instead of kelps, more mussels and crabs, smaller fish and fewer anemones and urchins. Come by sometime to see for yourself!

There’s always a surprise at the New England Aquarium, as one young lady discovered at the West Coast Tidepool exhibit in the Northern Waters of the World Gallery. Take a look, it's worth the wait!



Tidepools are found at the water’s edge along rocky coastlines. Organisms have developed unique biological adaptations to survive powerful forces such as pounding waves and extreme temperature changes. They must be able to hold tightly to rocks and survive for periods out of water. In this exhibit, a simulated wave breaks regularly, aerating the water and delighting surprised visitors.


Sea anemones are most prominent in this tank. You may also find kelp, sea urchins and a few hardy fish. The abundant food supply in tidepools and adjacent kelp forests also attracts sea otters and seals.



The bat star’s name comes from the joined area between its arms, like the webbing between the bones of a bat’s wing. This adaptation may help the bat star withstand the force of crashing waves.

Bat star (photo: Jerry Kirkhart, via Wikimedia Commons)

Now take a moment to compare this tidepool from the West Coast to some you find around here, where you would find rockweed instead of large kelps, more mussels and crabs, smaller fish and fewer anemones and urchins. What might you find here at the Edge of the Sea tidepool touchtank here at the Aquarium? Come by sometime and have fun exploring tidepools from near and far, right here in downtown Boston!