SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast Aquarium Mooloolaba Underwater World (now SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast) News

Underwater World is an aquarium in Mooloolaba, Queensland, purchased in Dec 2011 by Merlin (SeaLife). The aquarium is reopening as Underwater World SEALIFE Mooloolaba on December 18.

Story here: Five weeks to go!

In other news, new zones include: Turtle Temple, Shark Shipwreck, Coral Cove and, of course, Bay of Rays (including new Cownose Rays).

 

In much more uplifting news, staff from Underwater World have rediscovered a jellyfish species that hasn't been seen in over 100 years.

Story and video here: Jellyfish back from the dead after 100 years | Stuff.co.nz

 

Underwater World Sea Life Mooloolaba has been opened: Underwater World finishes $6.5 million upgrade

and here: http://www.underwaterworld.com.au/news/we-are-now-sea-life/

 

1.1 Australian sea lions have arrived from SeaWorld Gold Coast: Fully seal bro! Meet Sealife's new sea lions | Sunshine Coast Daily

 

Three blacktip reef sharks and two bluespotted stingray born: Baby Boom in Mooloolaba

 

A female New Zealand fur seal, rescued from a beach in Coffs Harbour (NSW), has taken up residence at Underwater World: https://www.underwaterworld.com.au/news/introducing-moana/

 

Two rehabilitated green sea turtles have been released off Mooloolaba Beach: https://www.underwaterworld.com.au/news/spanish-athlete-mario-mola-releases-rehabilitated-turtle/

 

Ten flatback sea turtle hatchlings, collected from the clutch of a wild female earlier this year, will go on display until they are big enough to be fitted with trackers and released: https://www.underwaterworld.com.au/news/meet-our-flatback-hatchlings/

 

Another 50 Turtles baby Loggerhead Turtles were realeased into the EAC last year.

 

What exactly is the EAC?

 

"What you wanna do is follow the EAC, that’s the East Australian Current. Big current, can’t miss it, it’s in…that direction. And then you gotta follow that for about, I don’t know, what do you guys think? About three leagues? And that little baby’s gonna put you right past Sydney."

 

Underwater World (SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast) now has five species of frog on display;
Red-eye Tree Frogs, Magnificent Tree Frogs, Green Tree Frogs, Peron-Tree Frogs and Lesueur’s Tree Frogs.
Prior to this the aquarium had no frogs on display.
Frogs are back at SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast!

 

SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast will open a new Little Penguin exhibit in December. They will be the first penguins at the aquarium.
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Six Little Penguins have arrived safely and have settled in at SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast. They will go on display in the coming week or so, as soon as the finishing touches on their enclosure are complete.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1211127995942577

 

SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast has received a sea turtle from Curtis Island - a hybrid Flatback Sea Turtle (Natator depressus) x Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta). This individual will be part of research study the aquarium is doing in collaboration with the Department of Environment and Science. The aquarium used to have sea turtles on display in their ocean tunnel for a couple of years but I am not sure if this individual is going to be a display animal. He has a lot of growing to do!

Source: SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast's Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1427692504085331

 

SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast is reopening on Thrusday (4th June).

Full article on website: Updates

 

Via a live stream on Facebook, SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast announced that their Ornate Wobbegong (Orectolobus ornatus) had a female pup! The vet conducted an ultrasound with the adult female to see if there were any other pups but she only produced one. The small pup (who was born last Friday) is shown around 13:00 in the video below.

Source: SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast's Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=362659721377819

 

I visited SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast today. Some notes from my visit:

-As imagined, the new Little Penguins were a very popular exhibit with the visitors. Considering that the aquarium has limited space, I am glad they opted for this species rather than creating a cramped exhibit for Kings and Gentoos. I was hoping the aquarium would mix the penguins with some cool fish like Melbourne Zoo does with leatherjacket or SEA LIFE Sydney does with Port Jackson Sharks, but all I saw in the tank with them was a goatfish and two silvery fish that need to be identified. Edit: The two silvery fish were identified as a Pin-spotted Spinefoot (Siganus margarituferus) and Paradise Threadfin Bream (Pentapodus paradiseus).

New Little Penguin Enclosure by WhistlingKite24 posted 3 Jul 2020 at 3:56 PM

Little Penguins - New Display Opposite Underwater Viewing by WhistlingKite24 posted 3 Jul 2020 at 4:04 PM

Little Penguin Bridge by WhistlingKite24 posted 3 Jul 2020 at 3:57 PM

-Since my last visit about a year ago the aquarium has lost most of their freshwater species - about 20-30 species all up - which is very disappointing and unfortunate. They no longer have any of the following species; Black Pacu, Red-tailed Catfish [this individual was my favourite fish in the entire aquarium: Red-tailed Catfish (Phractocephalus hemioliopterus) - ZooChat], Giant Pangasius, Cigar Shark, Giant Gourami, Alligator Gar, Long-nosed Gar, Butterfly Peacock Bass, Motoro Stingray, Silver Hatchetfish, Altum Angelfish, Freshwater Crocodile, Pig-nosed Turtle, several additional native turtle species, Eel-tailed Catfish, Fork-tailed Catfish, a few species of cichlid like the huge group of Red Devils, Venustus, Electric Yellow and Malawi Blue Dolphin, and a handful of tetra species. All of this moved out for the penguins! The aquarium is just not the same and feels very stark without them.

-The remainder of the ‘Freshwater Streams’ zone now consists of only four tanks containing the leftovers and a few new additions. Tank one [which formerly housed the hatchetfish, clown panchax and cherry shrimp with delicate plantings] is now a mix of Congo Tetra, Celebes Rainbowfish and Peacock Gudgeon. A few other small catfish species were signed for this tank and there was also a fascinating addition that caught my eye – an African Butterflyfish (Pantodon buchholzi). The second tank hasn’t changed much – an attractive assortment of barbs and rasboras. I actually really liked the third tank which now contains a large group (100 +) of Cardinal Tetras, Discus for pops of colour and a huge Common Plecostomus. You don’t often get to see large groups of tetras together and I thought it was a very effective display. The final tank was a bit of a let-down – they replaced the African cichlids with Goldfish…

Signage Example by WhistlingKite24 posted 3 Jul 2020 at 4:05 PM

Cardinal Tetra/Discus Tank by WhistlingKite24 posted 3 Jul 2020 at 4:13 PM

Goldfish Tank by WhistlingKite24 posted 3 Jul 2020 at 4:22 PM

-The frogs are now displayed downstairs in the Billabong area near the lungfish/archerfish tank. Glad to see they are still there. Thankfully, the Octanauts area with all the inadequate tanks, is gone and has been replaced with a simple display about penguins. The axolotls have been moved into a new (admittedly only slightly larger) tank next to the frogs.

Frog Tanks by WhistlingKite24 posted 3 Jul 2020 at 4:24 PM

Red-eyed Tree Frog (Litoria chloris) by WhistlingKite24 posted 3 Jul 2020 at 4:26 PM

-On a more positive note I was glad to see the two species of Cowfish – Striped (Aracana aurita) and Ornate (Aracana ornata) are still on-display. They are such lovely fish.

Ornate Cowfish (Aracana ornata) by WhistlingKite24 posted 3 Jul 2020 at 3:51 PM

-The Ornate Wobbegong that was born last week marks only the second time the aquarium has ever bred the species. The first time was about ten years ago.

-My favourite saltwater tank (one of the few tanks remaining from pre-Sea Life days) is looking wonderful. I saw lots of showy fish especially the larger tangs and a particularly active Yellowtail Coris (Coris gaimard).

Yellowtail Coris (Coris gaimard) by WhistlingKite24 posted 3 Jul 2020 at 4:40 PM

I will post a full species list in a separate thread exhibit by exhibit over the next couple of days.

More photos of the exhibits and some of the animals can be found here: Underwater World - ZooChat

 

So not so much a under water world anymore bit of a shame really!

 

The Little Penguins (which only arrived in November 2019) have started laying eggs. If successful, this will be the first time the aquarium has bred the species. From their Facebook page:

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