As you walk through Aquarium, you might notice that there is a variety of angelfish represented. This one, understandably, caught my eye. I set out to learn more about the richly colored fish native to the Indian and Pacific oceans.
Naturally curious yourself? You can get a closer look at Emperor, Blue, Queen, French and Gray Angelfish 363 days a year at the Greater Cleveland Aquarium.
– Sam Fryberger
If you aren’t looking for them, sometimes it is easy to miss one of our fastest slow-moving gastropods. With a name like turbo snail there is an immediate fascination with the obvious contradiction. Are these snails really as fast as their moniker might imply?
Turbo snails can grow up to 2 inches. They do quickly eliminate large amounts of nuisance algae. They can consume mass quantities of it off of live rock and aquarium glass, which makes them a very popular addition to home aquariums. They thrive in crevices and holes in natural reefs and appreciate large spaces to graze.
But these snails do not get their name based off of their speed, but rather the SHAPE of their shells. They are also referred to as wavy turban or top crown snails because of their thick, turban-shaped shell which protects their soft, flexible body. Their scientific name Turbinidae is based on the genus name Turbo, which is Latin for spinning top (a children’s toy).
Look for them next time you are in our Coastal Gallery. There’s a good chance you will see one or two grazing right in the front of our Live Coral Exhibit. It’s an amazing view that illustrates how they move and how they use their mouths to suck up algae. Check out the video below to catch a glimpse of some in action.
As we approach winter in Northeast Ohio my thoughts inevitably turn to the powdery white stuff we’ll be dealing with any day now. Maybe that’s why the Aquarium’s snowflake eels caught my interest. Here are five things I learned about these aquatic creatures:
This winter, visit the six snowflake eels at the Greater Cleveland Aquarium . . . where curiosity is natural
— Samantha Fryberger
If you visit on November 15, you can join us in celebrating America Recycles Day! Although we’ll be highlighting the benefits of recycling on Wednesday, throughout the year we’ve been trying to reduce, reuse and recycle more.
Did you know that more than 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into our oceans every year? That’s not good for us or for our aquatic friends. Based on waste audits done by the Aquarium’s Green Team we estimate that by the end of this year we will have kept 2700 pounds of plastic out of landfills.
What can you do to minimize plastic and other non-biodegradable waste? First off, if you are not already recycling at home, then start. It’s not hard just go to your City’s website and find out what is accepted. (If you live in Cuyahoga County it is cuyahogarecycles.org.)
Making recycling simple and convenient for your family makes it more likely they’ll participate. Try designating a bin in each living area that generates waste (kitchen, laundry room and bathroom). Then, label the containers with signs that list what is acceptable so no one puts an item that doesn’t belong.
Don’t think what you do matters? Here are some great facts about the benefits of recycling that illustrate just how much you can impact the environment by making small changes:
– Charlotte Cotter, Guest Experience Senior Lead
International Talk Like a Pirate Day isn’t just for Jack Sparrow, there aarrrrrrre plenty of ways to celebrate on September 19.
What is International Talk Like a Pirate Day? How did it begin? Surprisingly enough, by two guys playing racquetball. The entire story can be found on the ITLAPD website.
So how can you celebrate?
Dress up . . . or dress up your pet
So you don’t have a parrot? Not everyone can be Edwin Encarnacion after a homerun. Find a bandana and eye patch and include Fido in your celebrations!
INCLUDES:
Dress-up chest and paper plate pirate craft (11am – 3pm)
A swashbuckling story for the wee ones told by our own Lake Erie Monster-seeking Captain NEO (11am)
An appearance by land shark mascot Finn (2pm)
A target shark feed (3:30pm) and
A chance to search for treasure (10am – 5pm) in the exhibits.
It’s hard to believe our week-long celebration of sharks has come and gone. While admiring the five types of sharks we have here every single day is a large perk of working at the Greater Cleveland Aquarium, Fin Fest led me to a deeper appreciation of these animals. Even though the media often portrays them as a terrifying, there’s actually much more to revere than to fear when it comes to sharks. Here are a few Fin Fest facts that stuck in my mind:
While some sharks are allowed to be caught, illegal shark finning occurs when fisherman cut fins off live sharks and dump their bodies into the open ocean. The most popular use for the fins is shark fin soup, a delicacy in Chinese cuisine.
From 2005 to 2014, an average of six people per year died globally from shark attacks. But more than 73 people worldwide are reported to have died while taking extreme photos of themselves in the first eight months of 2016 alone. So, not only is a death by Facebook vanity shot statistically more likely than death by shark, but you have better odds of being taken down by lightning or succumbing to the flu than being killed by a shark.
Sharks have skeletons made of cartilage. When they die, saltwater can dissolve every part of their bodies except for their teeth.
Many sharks swim constantly for buoyancy and to keep oxygen-rich water flowing over their gills. Others, like the nurse sharks in our main exhibit, are able to remain still and draw water into their mouths and over their gills.
In the wild, sharks would eat maybe once a week. At the Aquarium, we pole feed our sharks three times a week, ensuring they’re full (and uninterested in their exhibit cohabitants).
— Morgan Wright, Marketing Assistant
Each time I walk through the Aquarium I see an animal I haven’t noticed before. The hi fin banded shark, however, caught my attention from day one. Here’s a little of what I’ve learned about the distinctive fish:
Of course, you can see hi fin banded sharks in the Lakes & Rivers gallery at the Greater Cleveland Aquarium . . . where your curiosity is only natural.
Big budget movies have encouraged us to be scared of sharks. In truth, there’s much more to revere than to fear when it comes to sharks. In fact, as their number one threat (humans kill an estimated 100 million sharks every year just for their fins), we need to protect these apex predators to keep aquatic ecosystems in balance. In honor of Fin Fest, our week-long celebration of sharks, I set out to learn more about sand tiger sharks.
You can see sand tiger sharks (and three other species of shark) in the 230,000-gallon shark exhibit at the Greater Cleveland Aquarium, where curiosity is only natural.
Let’s take a look at our women divers in action!
Our diver suiting up for a swim with the sharks.
Getting the diving gear ready to go!
Heading into the tank for one of our four daily dives for the day!
Twice a day, our divers will do a maintenance dive as well as two full face mask dives.
Our divers do an outstanding job cleaning our exhibits and keeping them looking squeaky clean for our guests.
Dive shows are a great way to learn more about our divers and what their job entails. Guests are able to interact with the divers and get to experience some of their daily tasks.
Our divers sanitize after every dive to make sure they don’t contaminate the water when going from fresh to salt water or vice versa. The divers also clean the corridor exhibits, in addition to the sea tube pictured above.