Time to start a thread on Marine Life Park, S.E.A. Aquarium. The Marine Life Park is very impressive and well worth a visit. Seeing an overview of the aquarium and reading brief descriptions of the sections admittedly resulted in me expecting a contender for "best aquarium in the world", a position IMO held by Okinawa for quite some years. It doesn't quite make it there, but it certainly is among the top aquaria in the world. On paper, it does look quite like a larger version of Okinawa: Larger ocean tank (~18 mio l), larger big shark tank (~3 mio l), larger general predators tank (~4 mio l), both with big coral tank, and both with deep water sections. However, for reasons described below, it mostly isn't: - Large ocean tank: Somewhat smaller than Georgia's, but almost twice as large as the third largest aquarium in the world (there's a handful of aquaria at 8.5-10 mio l). However, due to the contruction, the ocean tank appears more like a big version of the 8.5-10 mio l. tanks than a somewhat smaller version of Georgia. This is, in part, because the large viewing window is placed on the longest side of the roughly rectangular tank, i.e. the rear wall, about 35 m away, is easily visible. (in Georgia, the large viewing window is on the smallest side of the roughly rectangular tank, i.e. the rear wall being much further away.) The viewing window is by far the largest in the world and the vista through it is impressive. No species really compares to the whale shark, but since that species appears to be entirely unlikely in SEA Aquarium, the manta is a decent substitute. There are four at present, but I believe they plan on getting more. There are also many more commonly displayed species of rays, groupers, etc. - Shark Tank ("Shark Seas" aquarium): Crowded and currently contains mostly fairly small sharks. Unless something slipped my mind, I believe it also is the tank I've seen with the largest number of shark species. I do hope they'll consider moving the smallest species to other tanks where they shouldn't cause any major problems, leaving this tank as a top predator tank only (similar to Okinawa's shark tank). - General predators tank ("Shipwreck" aquarium): Another very impressive tank and the shipwreck is done quite well. Mostly contains various medium-sized predators. - Big coral tank ("Coral Garden" aquarium): A big cylindrical tank that contains numerous coral reef fish. With its name, I had expected this to be a big tank filled with living coral and fish, but SEA's living coral are generally located in other much smaller aquaria. As a consequence, they don't really have the "wow" feeling of Okinawa's or Burgers' big living coral tanks, and are also unlikely to get major coral spawing. - "Ocean Journey": This part of the SEA contains a variety of aquaria such as jellyfish, but also the deep sea section. There is only really one deep sea aquarium which contains "standard" Japanese deep sea species such as Japanese spider crab, giant isopod, nautilus, snipefish and roughies. I do realize that Singapore's location means that deep oceans are located further away than for some Japanese aquaria, but it would still have been nice with more "local" species from the deep parts of the Andaman or South Chinese Sea. Deep sea species from these regions are almost entirely absent from aquaria and this would have been my main chance of seeing a species I hadn't seen on display elsewhere. However, I also realize that only hardcore aquarium fans really would appreciate that - There are several other sections, but above are some of the main. There is also a quite good East African lakes section, primarily focusing on cichlids. It is the only freshwater part of the aquarium. Arguably it would have been more fitting in River Safari, which has a world class collection of large freshwater fish, but far less when it comes to medium/small sized fish. SEA is nice aquarium and well worth a visit for hardcore and "normal" aquarium visitors alike. Overall it is in my aquarium top-10, but still some way from the very top. With a few moves and tweaks (notably small sharks to Open Ocean, leaving "Shark Seas" for top predator sharks; corallivores and similar to "Shipwreck", leaving "Coral Garden" as a living coral tank), it certainly also has the potential to climb the list. In the above I have left out the dolphin pools. They are located outside the actual aquarium building and in general I have ambivalent feelings about dolphins in captivity. However, despite all the talks by some animal rights groups, SEA's dolphins pools seemed good.
Nice review condor, and I tend to agree with most of what you've mentioned. The Open Ocean tank's aesthetics are ruined by the the very obvious hotel room windows on the 'back' wall. But I do like the collection of rays housed in there, more than a dozen species and several specimens (like the thorntail ray) of impressive size. The aquarium aims to acquire up to 6 manta rays. The aquarium had earlier placed the bonnethead sharks in the Shipwreck tank, but they were ultimately removed and placed in Shark Seas. The zebra horned sharks are recent additions. They may remove the smaller species when the larger ones grow bigger. I know they have tiger and lemon sharks in holding but no where to display them. The presence of many Japanese deep water species may simply be because they are easier to obtain from the multitude of top notch Japanese aquariums. Commercial collectors of deep sea species in SE Asia are likely non-existent.
Yes, the hotel windows in the big ocean tank are rather obvious. I had actually planned on staying there, but heard that the pumps are placed at the rooms? The idea of waking up to the aquarium was very tempting, but I feared a continuous hum from a pump would interrupt my sleep. The collection of rays is indeed excellent, even if disregarding the mantas. In a comment to a photo you mentioned plans for creek whaler in the future. Have you heard anything about that? I looked hard in the hope that they already had one, but to no avail. However, I do find identification of plain Carcharhinus somewhat difficult and may have missed something in the shark swarms. To my knowlege, the only semi-regular comercial aquarium collecting of deep sea species in the region is off Bali and Sulawesi, but they don't go as deep as in Japan. The main Japanese aquaria with good deep sea collection collect most themselves, often in close cooperation with local scientists; surplus specimens are forwarded to aquaria elsewhere. Does anyone know if there is any sort of cooperation between Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research and S.E.A. Aquarium? I know Raffles' main marine focus is on inverts/coastal species, but I guess a cooperation on deeper sea fish would be possible too (if not already in place).
What other species does Marine Life Park have in holding? Are they planning to display the tiger sharks in Shark Seas or is the aquarium too small? Any updates on collection of Maori Wrasse in the SEA Aquarium? I recall seeing about 7 when it first opened.
To my knowledge the pumps are located along the narrower sides of the tank, not along the side where the rooms are. Perhaps the cornermost rooms will be affected. The creek whaler reference was made by the aquarium before it opened. There aren't any on display now. I'm not sure if any are in holding. No, Raffles is currently not in collaboration with the aquarium.
The Shark Seas tank is big enough to house tigers, but many of the smaller shark species displayed there would need to be removed. At this stage the aquarium prefers to keep a large variety of sharks on display. Are you referring to the Humphead Wrasse or the smaller Maori Wrasse species?
I was referring to the large specimens of humpback wrasse in the SEA Aquarium. Are they all thriving? Also are there any plans to add a tuna species to the SEA Aquarium?
Zooish, thanks for your replies. Based on the relatively few cases where tiger sharks have been kept with some success in aquaria, they actually tend to be fairly relaxed compared to several other species; sometimes even a bit timid. The sharks that mostly do cause problems are the big (2.5 m+) Carcharhinus and the big hammerheads (e.g., to the horror of visitors, the great hammerhead briefly kept at Georgia ended up attacking and killing rays). Regardless, keeping a 3+ m tiger with a bunch 1 m sharks would invite trouble.
I think there are only one or two adult wrasse left in the Open Ocean tank, and a juvenile in one of the smaller tanks. The Open Ocean tank houses Blackfin Tuna.
2 newly acquired manta rays died at the aquarium. I posted a photo of one of them in the gallery. It was placed in the main open ocean tank but separated by a net, and did not look healthy at the time. 3 manta rays are still thriving, although the aquarium's plan to have up to 6 mantas seems tenuous at this point. Two manta rays at Resorts World Sentosa's marine park die
A shark ray has been born at the park. S.E.A. Aquarium successfully breeds shark ray pup, a vulnerable species, Singapore News & Top Stories - The Straits Times
SEA Aquarium has begun displaying a male Ornate Eagle Ray, supposedly "the first of its kind to be featured in zoos and aquariums worldwide". Introducing the rare, endangered Ornate Eagle Ray at S.E.A. Aquarium
S.E.A. Aquarium will be expanded as part of a massive rejuvenation project of the entire Resorts World Sentosa (which includes hotels, a casino, a waterpark and Universal Studios). The aquarium will take over the space of the current Maritime Museum and will be 3 times its current size. No exact timeline for completion has been given, but the entire rejuvenation of the resort will be completed in phases between 2020 and 2025. More details in the press release. https://www.rwsentosa.com/-/media/p...ease--rws-embarks-on-mega-expansion-plans.pdf
"The expansion will see its transformation to an exciting blend of specially curated marine life and additional exhibits of prehistoric marine life and deep sea creatures that will be part of the story of the history of evolution, exploration and how mankind has to embrace conservation." I like the sound of that. There's a life-size (?) Dunkleosteus in the artist impression too. The impression of the "deep-sea" area looks too garish for my tastes though.
A video taken last year of a dolphin at SEA Aquarium/Dolphin Island repeatedly and forcefully banging its head against a raceway door has gone viral. You can view the video in the news article link below. Resorts World Sentosa which operates the aquarium issued an official statement saying it is "unable to confirm" if the video was taken at SEA Aquarium. RWS says it's not aware of incident in viral dolphin video I had my doubts about how ethical a profit-driven gaming company would be in operating an animal attraction. Their statement of denial is proof of their questionable ethics. There is no doubt that the video was taken at SEA Aquarium. The rockwork in the foreground matches exactly (see my photo from 2014: Dolphin Island - ZooChat ). It is extremely disappointing that the aquarium did not act responsibly and address the issue.
