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Rotterdam Zoo Blijdorp Oceanium Tank Species List (16-09-2020)

Discussion in 'Netherlands' started by 16217, 1 Oct 2020.

  1. 16217

    16217 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    4 Oct 2019
    Posts:
    82
    Blijdorp Oceanium Tanks:

    Hello, on 16-09-2020 I visited Blijdorp. Because the signage is very bad in the Oceanium when I visited, I decided to make a full species list of all the onshow tanks. A lot of tanks didn’t have signage at all (including very big tanks). This list will contain all species signed + all unsigned species I’ve seen on that day. We all know how good fish are at hiding, so I have 100% missed unsigned species. But I hope that the list will help anyone who has visited with possibly iding some species they saw or people who are just interested in the species line up. Sadly, due to corona a lot of tanks were not visible so I had to leave these out, so keep in mind they have a lot more tanks / species! I also don’t list the exhibits that don’t contain fish, so the oceanium has A LOT more exhibits than just these tanks, from king penguins to pancake tortoises to bali mynas to hutias.
    (Note: the signage that was present was outdated a lot of times, some species listed as “Signed” are not present anymore in the aquarium)

    Lets get started!

    The first tank you see is an outdoor tank.
    Species signed:
    Common Marine Hermit Crab (Pagurus bernhardus)
    Common Prawn (Palaemon serratus)
    Sand Goby (Pomatoschistus minutus)
    European Green Crab (Carcinus maenas)
    Beadlet Anemone (Actinia equina)

    After that you have an exhibit for some birds and fish.
    Species Signed:
    Common Murre (Uria aalge)
    Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica)
    Common Eider (Somateria mollissima)
    Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla)
    Gilt-head Seabream (Sparus aurata)
    European Lobster (Homarus gammarus)
    European Seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax)

    Time to get inside and walk into our first indoor tank:
    Species Signed:
    European Eel (Anguilla Anguilla)
    Common Marine Hermit Crab (Pagurus bernhardus)
    Shorthorn Sculpin (Myoxocephalus Scorpius)
    Common Brittle Star (Ophiothrix fragilis)
    European Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa)
    European Edible Sea Urchin (Echinus esculentus)
    European Green Crab (Carcinus maenas)
    Beadlet Anemone (Actinia equina)
    Dahlia Anemone (Urticina feline)
    Unsigned but seen:
    Sand Smelt (Atherina presbyter)

    In the center of the first part is an open topped tank. On previous visits this tank contained crabs and plaices and rays. On todays visit the inhabitants were lacking (or hiding). I only managed to see 1 fish species that I wasn’t able to id nor photograph as it was really small. My guess is that this tank is used to grow out species that are later moved to bigger tanks.
    Species Signed:
    Nothing

    Then you will see a big glass window so you can look at the puffins and other birds, and in between that you will find yourself another tank!
    Signed:
    Sand Smelt (Atherina presbyter)
    Edible Crab (Cancer pagurus)
    Big-scale Sand Smelt (Atherina boyeri)
    European Lobster (Homarus gammarus)
    Shanny (Lipophrys pholis)
    Unsigned but seen:
    + 1 fish that I was unable to ID

    Time to get to the bigger tanks! The first bigger tank you will encounter is a tank filled with sharks and other big fish like turbots!
    Signed:
    European Seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax)
    Pollack (Pollachius pollachius)
    European Eel (Anguilla Anguilla)
    Turbot (Scophthalmus maximus)
    Small-spotted Catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula)
    European Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa)
    Ballan Wrasse (Labrus bergylta)
    Nursehound (Scyliorhinus stellaris)
    Red Seabream (Pagrus major)
    Thicklip Grey Mullet (Chelon labrosus)
    Whiting (Merlangius merlangus)
    1 More species was signed but I made a typo listing it and forgot what it was, oops.
    Unsigned but seen:
    Tub Gurnard (Chelidonichthys lucerna)
    Cuckoo Wrasse (Labrus mixtus)
    Common Sole (Solea solea)

    Another tank right next to it looks like it connects, but they are actually 2 separate tanks, don’t get fooled! :)
    Nothing was signed in this tank, :(
    Unsigned but seen:
    European Conger (Conger conger)
    Viviparous Eelpout (Zoarces viviparus)
    European Plaice (Pleuronctes platessa)
    Turbot (Scophthalmus maximus)
    Wreckfish (Polyprion americanus)
    + 1 fish that I was unable to ID


    Then we continue to another big coldwater tank. Blijdorp made the European Sea Sturgeons the highlight of the tank! (Also because it was the only fish signed :( )
    Signed:
    European Sea Sturgeon (Acipenser sturio)
    Unsigned but seen:
    Common Smooth-hound (Mustelus mustelus)
    Cuckoo Wrasse (Labrus mixtus)
    Thornback Ray (Raja clavata)
    Small-eyed Ray (Raja microocellata)
    Spotted Ray (Raja montagui)
    Common stingray (Dasyatis pastinaca)
    Atlantic Mackarel (Scomber scombrus)

    After this you can usually go to another area that contains a coldwater tank and some jellyfish tanks, sadly, due to corona this area was closed.

    Instead of that, you will walk into the main display tank, the Atlantic ocean tunnel tank! A wonderfull tank that feels super open yet there is plenty of live.
    Signed:
    Blacknose Shark (Carcharhinus acronotu)
    Atlantic Nurse Shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum)
    Southern Stingray (Hypanus americanus)
    Blacktip Shark (Carcharhinus limbatus)
    Hawksbill Sea Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata)
    Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas)
    Ocean Triggerfish (Canthidermis sufflamen)
    Banded Rudderfish (Seriola zonata)
    Blue Runner (Caranx crysos)
    Tarpon (Megalops atlanticus)
    Barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda)
    Sandbar Shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus)
    Greater Amberjack (Seriola dumerili)
    False Herring (Harengula clupeola)
    Sergeant Major (Abudefduf saxatilis)
    Yellowtail Snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus)
    Mutton Snapper (Lutjanus analis)
    Horse-eye Jack (Caranx latus)
    Porkfish (Anisotremus virginicus)
    Grey Snapper (Lutjanus griseus)
    Blue-striped Grunt (Haemulon sciurus)
    Unsigned but seen:
    Nassau Grouper (Epinephelus striatus)
    Spotfin Butterflyfish (Chaetodon ocellatus)
    South American Pilchard (Sardinops sagax)
    Black Grouper (Mycteroperca bonaci)
    Longspine Squirrelfish (Holocentrus rufus)
    Black-chin Guitarfish (Rhinobatos cemiculus)
    Twotone Tang (Zebrasoma scopas)
    Sailfin Snapper (Symphorichthys spilurus)


    When leaving the tunnel tank, you will usually go through a new conservation center for fish. In here are much smaller sized tanks for smaller fish, like reef fish or sea horses, sadly, this area was closed aswell due to corona.

    So that means we are going to continue our path to the bigger tanks again, and after the big shark tunnel tank, you will walk through a fake coral reef tunnel tank! And yet again, no species were listed :(
    Unsigned but seen:
    Bluelined Snapper (Lutjanus kasmira)
    Yellowtail Tang (Zebrasoma xanthurum)
    False Moorish Idol (Heniochus diphreutes)
    Orbicular Batfish (Platax orbicularis)
    Sea Goldie (Pseudanthias squamipinnis)
    Spotted Scat (Scatophagus argus)
    Bluestreak Cleanerwrasse (Labroides dimidiatus)
    Whitetail Damselfish (Dascyllus aruanus)
    Sailfin Snapper (Symphorichthys spilurus)
    Regal Tang (Paracanthurus hepatus)
    Valentin’s Sharpnose Puffer (Canthigaster valentini)
    Silver Moony (Monodactylus argenteus)
    Scissortail Sergeant (Abudefduf sexfasciatus)
    Sergeant Major (Abudefduf saxatilis)

    After this very cool tunnel tank, we continue to another decent sized fake coral tank. Again, no species were signed, so these were all the species I saw:
    Unsigned but seen:
    Oriental Sweetlips
    Sailfin Snapper (Symphorichthys spilurus)
    Sea Goldie (Pseudanthias squamipinnis)
    Regal Tang (Paracanthurus hepatus)
    Scissortail Sergeant (Abudefduf sexfasciatus)
    Sergeant Major (Abudefduf saxatilis)
    Spotted Unicornfish (Naso brevirostris)
    Bignose Unicornfish (Naso vlamingii)
    White-tail Damselfish (Dascyllus aruanus)
    Brown and White Butterflyfish (Hemitaurichthys zoster)
    Spiny Chromis (Acanthochromis polyacanthus)

    The next tank is of similar size and similar decoration, once again fake coral. But instead, this tank had some moray eels in it! A lot!! Even though it had a lot of moray eels, it didn’t have much other species. Sadly, nothing was signed, so here we go again:
    Unsigned but seen:
    Sea Goldie (Pseudanthias squamipinnis)
    Scissortail Sergeant (Abudefduf sexfasciatus)
    Sergeant Major (Abudefduf saxatilis)
    White-tail Damselfish (Dascyllus aruanus)
    Laced Moray (Gymnothorax favagineus)
    Spotted Moray (Gymnothorax moringa)
    Redbelly Yellowtail Fusilier (Caesio cuning)

    The tank we see next is a very interesting tank, it’s the first big real coral reef display tank! It is still very young and only a few corals and fish are present, but I’m sure it will become very pretty if you give it some years. Nothing was signed here either:
    Unsigned but seen:
    Regal Tang (Paracanthurus hepatus)
    Yellowtail Tang (Zebrasoma xanthurum)
    Ocellaris Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris)
    Tomini Surgeonfish (Ctenochaetus tominiensis)
    Twotone Tang (Zebrasoma scopas)

    Time to get out of the coral reef, and get to some shallow but big tanks, the first tank you see after this houses a lot of cownose rays, and blijdorp is having a lot of breeding success with this species. During my visit there were also a lot of young individuals, and even 1 that was super young and small. This tank is displaying a Caribbean beach.
    Signed:
    Cownose Ray (Rhinoptera bonasus)
    Porkfish (Porkfish)
    Spiny Lobster (Didn’t list latin name)
    Ladyfish (Elops saurus)
    Bonnethead Shark (Sphyrna tiburo)
    Red Hind (Epinephelus guttatus)
    Common Snook (Centropomus undecimalis)
    Great Pompano (Trachinotus falcatus)
    Unsigned but seen:
    Lookdown (Selene vomer)
    Queen Angelfish (Holacanthus ciliaris)
    Sunburst Butterflyfish (Chaetodon kleinii)

    The next tank is a mangrove tank. This tank is currently used to house the first captive born blacknose shark, which is still too small to be housed in the big display tank. The tank also is currently being used to house species from a different tank that is currently undergoing maintenance as it is becoming freshwater, so the signage is extremely outdated for this tank.
    Signed:
    Southern Stingray (Hypanus americanus)
    Silver Jenny (Eucinostomus gula)
    Upsidedown Jellyfish (Cassiopea xamachana)
    Lookdown (Selene vomer)
    Yellow Goatfish (Mulloidichthys martinicus)
    Caribbean Cushion Star (Oreaster reticulatus IIRC)
    Arabian Carpetshark (Chiloscyllium arabicum)
    Atlantic Horseshoecrab (Limulus polyphemus)
    Palometa (Trachinotus goodei)
    Atlantic Bumper (Chloroscombrus chrysurus)
    Porkfish (Anisotremus virginicus)
    Unsigned but seen:
    Yellowtail Tang (Zebrasoma xanthurum)
    Blacknose Shark (Carcharhinus acronotus)
    Longspine Porcupinefish (Diodon holocanthus)
    Zebra Moray (Gymnomuraena zebra)
    Razor tang (Prionurus laticlavius)

    Time to get to the first freshwater tanks! The first tank was a tank with gars as the main display species.
    Signed:
    Endler (Poecilia wingei)
    Spotted Gar (Lepisosteus oculatus)
    Shovelnose Sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus platorynchus)
    Longnose Gar (Lepisosteus osseus)
    Unsigned but seen:
    Sven’s Eartheater (Geophagus sveni)
    Xingu River Stingray (Potamotrygon leopoldi)
    Pleco sp (no idea)
    Tiger Oscar (Astronotus ocellatus)

    The next tank was a very cool tank, as it also housed a reptile, the cuviers dwarf caiman!
    Signed:
    Tiger Oscar (Astronotus ocellatus)
    Butterfly Peacock Bass (Cichla ocellaris)
    Silver Arowana (Osteoglossum bicirrhosum)
    Cuviers Dwarf Caiman (Paleosuchus palpebrosus)
    Unsigned:
    Pleco sp (no idea)
    Endler (Poecilia wingei)
    Motoro Stingray (Potamotrygon motoro)

    After this you eventually reach the new science center, which was closed due to corona so I unfortunally have no listing done for this area, but it did contain some smaller (home sized) tanks.

    In this room there was also an onshow tank which is currently being changed to freshwater, there are already some plants in there. Some of the species that lived here last year were a zebra moray, razor tangs and yellowtail tangs (only species I remember from last year)

    The last aquarium part is once again, cold water, with one very big leopard shark display tank.

    The closest tank you is actually hidden from first sight and is not too big.
    Signed:
    Painted Greenling (Oxylebius pictus)
    Black-eyed Goby (Rhinogobiops nicholsii)
    Oregon Hairy Triton (Fusitriton oregonensis)
    Strawberry Anemone (Actinia fragacea)

    Time to get to the species of the main display tank of this area! Even though cold water does not have my preference, it was a beauty to see. I did not see species that were not signed, but last year a swellshark was present, which I did not see this visit.
    Signed:
    Cabezon (Oxylebius pictus)
    Yelloweyed Rockfish (Oxylebius pictus)
    Tiger Rockfish (Sebastes nigrocinctus)
    Giant Green Anemone (Anthopleura xanthogrammica)
    Ocher Seastar (Pisaster ochraceus)
    Hornshark (Heterodontus francisci)
    Pink Seastar (Pisaster brevispinus)
    Opaleye (Girella nigricans)
    Canary Rockfish (Sebastes pinniger)
    Leopard Shark (Triakis semifasciata)
    Garibaldi Damselfish (Hypsypops rubicundus)
    Bat Starfish (Patiria miniata)
    Kelp Greenling (Hexagrammos decagrammus)

    A rather small tank, but with an interesting design, I call it the starfish box J
    Signed:
    Ocher Seastar (Pisaster ochraceus)

    After this you will see another decently sized tank, theme of this tank is a kelpforest bottem
    Signed:
    Cabezon (Oxylebius pictus)

    Painted Greenling (Oxylebius pictus)
    Bullhead Shark (Heterodontus francisci)
    Striped Seaperch (Embiotoca lateralis)
    Black-eyed Goby (Rhinogobiops nicholsii)
    Garibaldi Damselfish (Hypsypops rubicundus)
    Copper Rockfish (Sebastes caurinus)
    Rainbow Seastar (Orthasterias koehleri)
    China Rockfish (Sebastes nebulosus)
    Sunflower Seastar (Pycnopodia helianthoides)
    Leather Sea Star (Dermasterias imbricata)
    False Ochre Seastar (Evasterias troschelii)
    Strawberry Anemone (Actinia fragacea)
    Unsigned but seen:
    Swallowtail Seaperch (Anthias anthias)

    The last tank contained only one species, but one of the individuals was rather special, it was a fraternal? / duplicate? Lobster , idk the right translation. (Dutch: een eiig), basically one side was one coloration and the other side was another coloration. In this case, orange and green/blue. This happens sometimes with lobsters
    Signed:
    American Lobster (Homarus americanus)

    We have come to the end of this very big post, if you are still reading, thnx and I hope I have helped you with either IDing your fish from your own visit, or helped you with potential stockings or just general information! This was my first time making a post and it took quite some time. Incase you have any question about the presence of certain fish or tank specifics, let me know!
     
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  2. Dustin1999

    Dustin1999 New Member

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    Location:
    Amersfoort
    I know where the swell shark is these days. He is in the old Mediterranean tank, which now has that TV with information about the sturgeon. So when you see that fake white shark in front of the tunnel and you look to the left you see an opening in the old Mediterranean tank. Well there is the swell shark.
     
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  3. JurassicMax

    JurassicMax Well-Known Member

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    16 Jul 2020
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    3,215
    Location:
    The Netherlands
    Thanks for this list @Bosjesman! I recently started to keep track of all the species I have seen in zoos and learned that especially aquariums are tricky in terms of species. This list will definitely be usefull for future reference and marine enthousiasts!
     
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  4. ralph

    ralph Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Location:
    Tilburg, Netherlands
    The fishes of the coral tanks are signed, but not on normal educational signs. They are on the interactive screen just around the corner after leaving the tunnel through the coral reef tank.

    You missed the giant moray. There should be several of them with the other moray species.
     
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  5. 16217

    16217 Well-Known Member

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    4 Oct 2019
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    Great to hear that he/she is still alive, it's a super cool species.

    Hope it will be usefull, one of the reasons why i decided to make this : )


    Ahh, must have missed that then, or maybe it was off which was why i didn't see it, i don't know. I am very good at missing things. Sadly didn't see the giant moray, and would have loved to edit my post and add it as signed but i can't seem to edit it anymore. But thnx for the info! Now i have something to look for during my next visit.
     
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  6. Blijdorpenaar

    Blijdorpenaar Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    Location:
    the Netherlands
    It must be said those signs are absolutely awfully outdated. For one I can confirm that there are no more seabass in Bass Rock. There's also no shovelnose sturgeon in the Amazon and no bonnethead shark in the Mangrove. Still a cool project tho!
     
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  7. 16217

    16217 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    4 Oct 2019
    Posts:
    82
    Yea, signage is sadly really outdated, the ocean trigger is also dead for a long time, including many other signed fish. But for the list i decided to just fully copy the signage even if i knew certain species were gone.