That link is interesting because it contains an overhead image of what the aquarium's footprint will be with the expansion, plus there is mention of "tiger sharks" as a potential species. That seems unlikely but you never know....
Here is an article about the bacteria in the water of the Ocean Voyager exhibit: Largest U.S. indoor ocean exhibit has good news | EarthSky.org
The aquarium is going to be the subject of a new Animal Planet TV show, in the vein of The Zoo. Georgia Aquarium animals, staff to debut in new 'Animal Planet' series
Great to see more institutions getting this kind of treatment and publicity. It would be a great counter series to The Zoo, focusing on what goes into running a large-scale aquarium.
Albino alligators are gone, with their exhibit having been converted to a mangrove exhibit with banded archerfish, clouded archerfish, african moony, silver moony, and spotted scat. They exhibit all those were previously in, now features boeseman's rainbowfish, turquoise rainbowfish, and banded rainbowfish. Two alligator snapping turtles are in what used to be the cichlid exhibit, with the cichlids now being where the redtail catfish, ripsaw catfish, and African tigerfish used to be. Those three species are now gone.
New series on Animal Planet called "The Aquarium" to focus on the Georgia Aquarium. Premiere is later this month.
Update on the aquarium's expansion. https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta...llion-expansion-at-georgia-aquarium-hits.html
Hi i'm planning a trip from NYC to Atlanta. Including the BRPW. So i was thinking the second half of october. How likely is it that the 2020 expansion will be ready ?
I wonder then if this albinism was originally the result of a one-time mutation caused by a virus or trauma the mother suffered. After that it could have become a recessive hereditary gene. If would be fascinating to know how many of the original clutch were albino.
Well its hard to tell where the original white alligators came from, and the best I could find in a relatively short search is this Wikipedia article: Alligator - Wikipedia "The two kinds of white alligators are albino and leucistic. These alligators are practically impossible to find in the wild. They could survive only in captivity and are few in number. The Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans has leucistic alligators found in a Louisiana swamp in 1987" Seems like a bit of a contradiction to say they can only survive in captivity, and then to say were found in a Louisiana swamp, but assuming it's true it appears to have been caused by a recessive hereditary gene
Yes, but how then did the recessive gene originate, before being passed down by heredity? And if it's innate, we would see it in the Chinese subspecies I can understand the seeming contradiction. The depigmented skin is prone to fatal burning by the sun, but statistically rare alligators who stay entirely under the cover of marsh vegetation during the day survive. If they had reproduced, we no doub would know about it. I wonder if there are associated mutations with the albinism that affect fertility?
