Check out the tank behind Claire to see the Giant Pacific Octopus. If you’re stumped, scroll down for a closer look.

Claire Bird

Our classroom field trip to the Boston Aquarium proved to be informational in a variety of ways. One of my favorite exhibits was the Blue Planet portion. I found the placement of the exhibit to be extremely important. The exhibit is one of the very first parts of the museum you see after you enter. Before you are able to go experience all the amazing sights, you read about the devastating affects our generation is having on marine life. The different stops provide specific species and ecosystems that are being destroyed by us. The exhibit puts these concepts in terms that are easily understandable, making relatable comparisons. The exhibit also provides a variety of changes that people can make to help combat this. I think that by placing this exhibit in the beginning, people will be able to reflect on what they have learned as they walk through the museum. Hopefully, as they see all the amazing sites that the museum has to offer, they will want to make a constant effort to keep such ecosystems and species alive.

I also found the variety of ecosystems interesting. After studying ecology, it is easy to understand that the world is made-up of many different habitats. Even after reading our textbook and learning about the different marine ecosystems, it was challenging for me to understand them beyond basic wetlands. Fortunately, the aquarium does an excellent job highlighting not only the marine life, but also the habitat that the different species thrive in. This was a great visual tool that helped me to see just how vast and how much of a variety that exists in ocean life.

Leslie Gutierrez

The New England Aquarium is not just an attraction but also an educational, scientific, research center that focuses on ocean exploration and marine conservation. Their purpose is to inform the public of the issues that are facing these different species, and I believe that their ability to appeal to not just adults, but children as well is great because this allows kids to understand and realize just how important it is to take care of this planet. The New England Aquarium is a place where people can look at some interesting marine species, but also learn of the problems that they are facing and why it is important to learn that even a small change on our part can really go a long way into protecting and preserving these species.

Climate change is a huge issue facing a lot of these species that are exhibited and they really do what they can to address the issue head on with some solutions as to how we can slow down the progress of climate change before reaching a dangerous point. There are definitely direct harms that face these species, for example, over fishing and pollution. It reminds those that the marine ecosystems are delicate and that even a small shift in the ecosystem could mean disastrous problems for the species. I feel that is very important to address these problems like climate change head-on, instead of sugar-coating these issues. Climate change doesn’t only affect us, and I feel that sometimes, people often forget that there are other species that are more in danger than we are, in regard to climate change. Climate change is a huge issue and when you visit places that are seen as an attraction, you don’t really see them addressing issues that cause major problems for these species. However, the New England Aquarium addressed these problems and that, overall really made the trip more enjoyable for me. It is very important that we teach the younger generations just how little shifts in the climate can really cause problems and that it is important that we do what we can these species who are strongly impacted from climate change.

Davis Brief

The New England Aquarium is home to over 600 species and over 20,000 individual animals. Included in these animals are penguins and corals, which I will be focusing on in this discussion. Anthropogenic factors in today’s world have a large impact on both of these animals, however they are both some of the highlighted exhibits at the aquarium. The aquarium has a four story, 200,000 gallon tank that is made to act as, or simulate, a Caribbean coral reef. The tank is home to sharks, stingray, eel, and many different varieties of fish. In relation to today’s world and what we have learned in class, something that has a large impact on many of these species is ocean warming. Ocean warming can lead to coral bleaching, which leads to a number of negative consequences. These include decreased protection from rogue waves and major storms, destruction of entire habitats that are used for species of fish to survive, which can ultimately lead to the disruption of the oceanic food chain. Ocean warming also has an impact on penguins and lobster, which are both held in the aquarium as well. Warming water temperatures cause both lobster and penguin to search for cooler water, as both of them need to be in specific temperatures to survive. Lobster would be forced to move North, and penguins would be forced to move. However, this is a particular problem for Jackass penguins that live in Cape Town, as it is near the most Southern point in Africa already. These penguins would be forced south, and may have no land to reside on that remains in the proper water temperature that is necessary for their survival.

Jeremy Epstein

The New England Aquarium attempts to strike a balance between education and amusement. Overall, they manage to do this pretty well. There are many parallels between the layout of the aquarium and the movies we watched earlier this term. One of the striking similarities is the use of charismatic mega fauna. For example, it was very easy to be drawn towards the seal/sea lion exhibit. There was not much to be gained from this exhibit other than entertainment. It could be valuable to intertwine the more exciting exhibits such as the seals with more educational processes. One of the main priorities of the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life is research of the right whale. This is clearly another case of charismatic mega fauna, as it is pervasive throughout their website.

There was an exhibit that appeared to be designed to shed light on various marine issues. The layout mainly consisted of large colorful posters with cartoons in order to appeal to a younger crowd. It was nice to see the aquarium involving children, this is particularly important because achieving sustainability in the long term necessitates an overall paradigm shift of social norms. It would be helpful if the posters associated with coral and “tigers of the sea” had more living components tied to them, this would help them catch the eyes of more guests. This method was used to show some of the lobster research currently being conducted by aquarium staff. The research is focused on the effects of sea temperature rise on lobster shell disease. Climate change is one of the most important issues that is tied to all of these research projects in some way; there should be more continuity throughout the aquarium tying climate change to different issues.

Courtney McKee

Seeing the Giant Ocean Tank serve as a microcosm of a coral reef really put into perspective for me how valuable that ecosystem is. In just 200,000 gallons of seawater, there were 800 organisms (New England Aquarium 2017). It looked like the tank was teeming with life, with each nook and cranny of the coral harboring a sea creature. I thought it was an effective visualization of the larger, real-life system and as such, the need to protect such a fragile system, one that is currently under threat, hit home.

The aquarium was fantastic in promoting sustainable use of the oceans. Each tank, which represented a specific ecosystem, was followed up by the issues that face this environment and what you, as a civilian, can do about it. I was pleasantly surprised how much real estate was taken up by this kind of information. Many of the signs advised asking servers where the seafood on the menu came from. Others instructed how to sponsor a turtle or whale.  Whether or not visitors actually decide to follow these signs, it imbued the aquarium with an environmentally responsible mindset which I wasn’t expecting. The beauty of the animals in their idyllic, manufactured landscape was balanced with the reality of the world.

I particularly enjoyed the shark exhibit. Rather than presenting sharks as ferocious predator, they focused on their biology, showing them as embryos and babies. Moreover, the short clips about current scientific research and new technology for sharks were very informative, especially the clip about how rising ocean temperatures might affect the growth rate of shark embryos as warmer waters contain less oxygen. I thought it did a lot to destigmatize the species and show that they, as much as any other species, are threatened by climate change.

The museum’s environmental advocacy is backed up by their leadership in the field. For example, their Marine Conservation Action Fund financially supports conservation projects in local communities in developing countries and around the world. In one of their programs, at-risk sea turtles are rescued, rehabilitated, and released, which helps stabilize the population.

Here’s a shot of the GPO moving across the top of the tank. The water is reflective, so it looks like there are 2 instead of one.