A beautiful broadclub cuttlefish is currently stalking our cuttlefish exhibit. It is fed an assortment of seafoods, including live crabs now and then. Recently a staff member had their phone recording video during afternoon snack. Take a look at this cool behind-the-scenes video!


[Check out our Behind-the-Scenes Tours if you want another perspective on our exhibits—like this one.] 

While it takes about a half-hour to eat a fish, it may take the cuttlefish more than an hour to devour the crab because of its crusty exoskeleton. The aquarist usually find only the carapace and a few legs after the meal.

The way cuttlefish capture their prey is pretty fascinating to watch, too, but it happens so fast! We actually have some spectacular slow-motion footage that shows exactly how a cuttlefish (a common cuttlefish, in this case) nabs its meal. Watch how this cunning cephalopod captures its food with two retractable tentacles, then pulling it into the grasp of eight waiting suction cupped arms.



This footage was taken by photographer Keith Ellenbogen at 500 frames per second, about 17 times slower than it occurs to the naked eye. A typical video camera records at about 30 frames per second.

The broadclub cuttlefish noshing on its crab snack

With your new appreciation for cuttlefish, look for these invertebrates in their Level 1 exhibit here at the Aquarium. Whether they're changing color or hunting, they never cease to amaze! And if you're interested in behind-the-scenes perspectives like in the video on this post, check out our Behind-the-Scenes Tours!

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.

How do you feed a shark or a stingray? Very carefully! That’s a joke that we hear (and tell) a lot at the Trust Family Foundation Shark and Ray Touch Tank. And while it might be a joke, feeding our animals is something we take very seriously at the Aquarium!

Everyone looks forward to breakfast!

Breakfast!

Making sure everyone gets something to eat

Food sinking to the bottom

With a keen sense of smell, these animals can locate their prey easily. And as their mouths are located on, or near, the bottom of their body, scooping up food from sand is no problem. Both the rays and sharks will eat when they are hungry, so it's possible that every animal might not eat at each meal. But with feedings happening throughout the day, everyone has the opportunity to find a yummy snack when they want one.

A white-spotted bamboo shark and her squid snack!

Perhaps next time you visit the Aquarium, you might just be in time to see the shark and stingray touch tank exhibit animals get something to eat. Consider buying your tickets online and printing them at home so you can zip in the door when you arrive. Here's where to start planning your next visit!

And in case you're hungry for a snack of your own, head over to the New England Aquarium's website for environmentally friendly seafood options and seafood recipes. Bon appetit!

Goosefish

When people first approach the goosefish exhibit, many visitors have a hard time finding her in the tank. The goosefish is perfect at blending into the seafloor with her gray color and a flattened body shape. And when it’s time to find food, this appearance has a lot of advantages!

Can you find the goosefish?

Goosefish are opportunistic feeders and will eat anything that comes near their oversized mouths, including fish, birds, shrimp…even soda cans! By blending in, the chances of a food item swimming close to the fish increase. The goosefish will lie on the seafloor, wait for something to get close and then, with a quick burst of speed, engulf the whole item with its mouth. Check out this slow motion video of our goosefish eating!



To help draw prey closer, goosefish have what looks like a fishing pole with a lure on the top of their head. They use this modified fin to ‘fish’ for their food. By waving it up in the water, the small lure resembles a small fish or a worm and attracts larger fish, such as silversides, closer to the goosefish. Once that happens, it’s lunchtime for the goosefish!

The goosefish's modified dorsal fin acts as a fishing lure.

The shiny fish in the exhibit, called silversides, are not her food (the aquarists provide her with healthy meals on a special feeding tool) but provide the goosefish with behavioral enrichment. By having the silversides near her, the goosefish gets a chance to practice her fishing skills.



In addition to her ravishing beauty and impressive fishing skills, the goosefish has another noteworthy accomplishment: Each year she wows visitors with her egg veil. This year our aquarist caught video of her laying the egg veil! See more pictures and video of the egg veil.

So the next time you visit our Gulf of Maine exhibits, stop by and check out the goosefish. If you are lucky, you might be able to see her fishing! And while you're in these chilly Northern Waters galleries, don't miss the octopus and green anemone tidepool exhibits.

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You're about to enter a unique exhibit featuring many different species of fish, plants, invertebrates and birds all living together. Peer through the mesh and you will see, and hear, six species of shorebirds. A common tern, two sanderlings, a dunlin, a virginia rail, two semipalmated plovers and two threatened piping plovers can be seen foraging for food amongst the rocks, marsh grass and driftwood and sometimes even in the saltwater pool itself! Press play and watch as our sanderlings catch crickets!