Seahorses are a visitor favorite at the Aquarium. This unique exhibit provides a variety of angles for viewing seahorse behavior.

You may recall that our lovely goosefish usually lays an egg veil once a year. You can see pictures and video of this special event here, here and here. But it's once in a blue moon that she lays TWO egg veils in the year. This is just one of those times.


The last time she laid an egg veil was in May. While one might expect this one to be a bit smaller, it's actually about the same size as the last one. So come visit the Aquarium this weekend and look for this exhibit on the third level. Take a moment to watch this fabric-like sheet sway and flow throughout the exhibit's gentle current. There's a good chance that you'll walk away being amazed and a little more relaxed. It's truly a beautiful sight.

Here’s some video footage of the rescued cowfish we met a while back, swimming around in his new home at the Aquarium’s seahorse exhibit. Watch the way he swims; cowfish have hard, bony armor surrounding their bodies that keeps them from turning and flexing the way many fishes do. They move by fluttering small fins that extend out of their armor, so although they’re very well-protected, they’re not particularly quick or maneuverable.





At one point in the video, the cowfish ties to catch up to one of the mysid shrimp that are sprinkled into the exhibit for the seahorses to eat. The fact that he has some trouble catching up to a frozen shrimp is evidence that swimming isn’t his strong suit, although the fact that he picks a shrimp that’s almost as big as he is also doesn’t make things any easier.

You do have to admire his heart.

-Tim

Those are some teeth!

Researchers in Belgium wanted to look closer at the strange noises that piranhas make when the fish were picked up or caught in a net. They suspended a hydrophone into a tank containing piranhas and recorded any sounds made and documented what the fish were doing at the time. And for the most part, the fish were silent and pretty chilled out. However, when food was introduced, it was a different, and very noisy story! [Here's a link to the abstract of this study.]

Imagine that you're scuba diving off of the New England coast. The ocean is cold, but bearable, and as you make your way through the murky water, you begin to see familiar sights like sea stars, sea urchins and mussels. As you swim past a rock formation, you happen to see a tiny fish the size of your thumbnail wobbling along, and looking sorely out of place:


Photo: John Correa

So, stop by and say hi next time you’re on the third level! But, remember that octopuses have the ability to change both their color and texture to camouflage in their environment which makes her really good at hiding, so you’ll have to look carefully to see her!

-Sam

[Read more about Aquarium octopuses in this post describing how a giant Pacific octopus named Truman managed to squeeze into a 15-inch-by-15-inch box. You can also check out this YouTube video featuring Senior Aquarist Bill Murphy interacting with an octopus named George.]

It's that time of year again. Boston is showing signs of spring and the Aquarium's goosefish has laid another long whispy veil of eggs for visitors to see in the Northern Waters Gallery on the third level.


Goosefish, like the one in this exhibit, release these long masses that float along in the water, while the eggs develop and hatch little goosefish larvae. These egg veils can be 60 feet long, 3 feet wide and contain 1 to 2 million eggs. The Aquarium's goosefish tends to lay an egg veil every year. Here's the post about last year's egg veil.

You never know what fascinating behaviors you might see in an Aquarium exhibit. Recently aquarists spotted a fourspined stickleback (Apeltes quadracus) building a nest in the seahorse exhibit on the third level. Check out the video:



Male sticklebacks build a nest by attaching tying together vegetation using secretions from their kidneys. Once the nest is complete it attracts females, who lay their eggs in it. The males then chase the females away and fertilize the eggs. Studies have shown that males build multiple nests, so be sure to keep a look out on your next visit. You might just see a builder at work!

Visitors to the Aquarium are being treated to a very special, and beautiful, temporary addition to the goosefish exhibit on the third floor. The female goosefish laid an egg veil this week! Take a look...




The egg veil moves very slowly with the currents in the tank.


The goose fish is in the lower left corner of the tank, to the left of the orange sea star.

Egg veils are usually about a foot wide and can reach 60 feet long, containing about a million eggs. "It feels almost like a sea jelly," says Bill Murphy, aquarist in the Northern Waters Gallery. "The veil is pretty strong."


Seen from above, you can almost make out the tiny eggs that comprise the sheet.


A tip of the veil


Murphy could tell that the goosefish was getting ready to lay the eggs because she was so much larger than usual.

Murphy says this particular fish has laid an egg veil around the same time of year for the past couple years. Another neat fact about goosefish: They have a modified dorsal fin that they dangle to attract prey, almost like their own fishing lure. Come visit this fascinating fish at the New England Aquarium! The egg veil will remain in the exhibit for the next couple days.

While you're here, don't miss the giant Pacific octopus just a couple tanks down from the goosefish in the Northern Waters Gallery. Murphy posted about the unusual and amazing talents of these intelligent animals in a guest post on the Aquarium's Divers Blog. Click through to see pictures of the octopus squeezing into a clear box!

As a certified dry suit diver, Murphy also recently taught teens in the Aquarium's SEA TURTLE program that not all scuba diving is warm water diving!

- Marion

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A job that should have taken ten minutes stretched into an hour and a half. On the upside, I had a wonderful interaction with Ashley. She came over and put her head on my arm for a while and allowed me to touch and handle her with no protest. Normally I can handle Ashley but she will usually wander off to do her own thing. I was very excited to have had such a long and very positive interaction with her.

Anacondas Ashley and Kathleen have lived at the New England Aquarium since the summer of 2006. Before then, a third large anaconda, Orange, had already been living in the exhibit for many years. Due to their size, we initially thought that all of the snakes were female. It is very difficult to tell the sex of an anaconda.


The anacondas in a pile, up close and with Amazon biologist and researcher Scott Dowd
It turns out that Orange was, in fact, a male. Large constrictors rarely mate in captivity, so we were surprised when both Ashley and Kathleen were seen multiple times in a mating embrace, called a breeding ball, with Orange. By October of 2007, both of them were pregnant. Kathleen's ova proved to be unfertilized, but Ashley's was. On January 1, 2008 at about 4 a.m., Ashley gave birth to 14 squirming baby anacondas. Here's a video of the birth:




-Marion Britt, Freshwater Intern

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