In February half term a new exhibit area will be opening at The Deep. The exhibit, called 'Changing Seas' which will show the effects of climate change on the oceans and its wildlife. Part of this new exhibit area will include a number of toxic species new to the collection including red lionfish, dog-faced pufferfish and leopard moray eel. More information about the new exhibit is included in the link below: Latest news from The Deep | The Deep
The new 'Changing Seas' exhibit has now opened at The Deep, with some further details being released. It is primarily about how rising CO2 levels are changing the ocean pH and affecting sea life. The entire exhibit has been made in partnership with a research fellow from Hull University, who has been conducting research in this field. The news article about the opening of the exhibit can be found here: Latest news from The Deep | The Deep
The Deep have recently announced that they have worked with a company called 360 Protex to develop a face mask that is reusable and has a unique in-built antimicrobial material which, in tests, deactivated 99.99% of bacteria and 92% of Coronavirus on contact. The Deep is involved because of the rising environmental crisis due to the huge numbers of disposable masks ending up in rivers and the sea. There is more information from the news article on The Deep's website below: Latest news from The Deep | The Deep The face masks are already available on the online shop for The Deep.
I picked up one of these when I visited last week and very happy with it so far! The coating apparently means you don't necessarily have to wash it every time, as you do with a lot of reusable masks, so it's saving water and detergent over an untreated reusable mask as well.
The SNAP programme (a cooperative between the Deep, ZSL, Sea Life and Bangor University's School of Ocean Sciences) has recently had success with collecting and hatching eggs from golden damselfish Amblyglyphidodon aureus. A video of the young fish can be found here:
Spawning is probably quite simple (I don't know details for this species), rearing the fry is much more difficult.
The Deep has announced the arrival of a pair of turquoise dwarf geckos (Lygodactylus williamsi), which have moved into the Deep Blue One area (the rivers display). Information comes from The Deep's Facebook page.
Following the arrival of the turquoise dwarf geckos late last year, The Deep has now announced the hatching of four dwarf gecko eggs. Information comes from The Deep's Facebook page.
This news is a couple of years late, but I figured it was worth sharing anyway as it doesn't seem to have been mentioned before. I was looking at the Facebook page for the SNAP project and have found that eggs collected from the main reef tank at The Deep have been successfully reared, with both sea goldie Pseudanthias squamipinnis and azure damselfish Chrysiptera hemicyanea having been cultured. Also, the golden damselfish that were successfully aquacultured and reported here in February 2021 (post #65, further up this page) actually originated from ZSL London. Information comes from the SNAP Facebook page - azure damselfish from 5th February 2021 and the sea goldies from 12th March 2020.
I have only just noticed this news from early November, but the entire Cool Seas area has been closed for refurbishments. One part of the refurbishment involves making a new touchless interactive display about plankton, shown alongside a new large jellyfish kreisel - 3m wide and 1.6m high. Stage 2 of the project involves removing the entire floor of the display and changing the area to represent the shoreline of the East Yorkshire coast. The immersion of the display is being helped by the design team visiting sites at Cayton Bay and North Landing at Flambourough. It is hoped that the entire redevelopment of Cool Seas will be complete by early 2023. More information can be found in the link below: BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE COOL SEAS PROJECT | The Deep
The new Cool Seas development has now opened. A lot of the changes don't seem to contain live animals - the only area that I could see that does house animals is the former cinema area at the beginning of the section, now housing several species of jellyfish. On a photograph posted on The Deep's Facebook page, I could see signage for the following three species: Moon jellyfish, Aurelia aurita Japanese sea nettle, Chrysaora pacifica Dwarf lion's-mane jellyfish, Cyanea versicolor As well as posts on the Facebook page, this video also shows the changes that have taken place:
On 18th June, a gentoo penguin chick hatched at The Deep to mother Diane and father Rapha. The sex of the chick will become known in about three months' time, when the chick has its first moult. More information can be found in the link below: Baby Gentoo Penguin Hatched at The Deep on Father's Day | Biaza
