December 19, 2007

VANCOUVER AQUARIUM OPENS NEW RIBBONED SEADRAGON AND WET LAB EXHIBITS

Vancouver, BC: Today, the Vancouver Aquarium opened two exhibits in its newest gallery, the Canaccord Capital Exploration Gallery.

The ribboned seadragons, which are native to the northwestern coast of Australia, puzzled scientists for years as to what species it could be. Despite their name, these slender creatures with their spiny bodies are not true seadragons, but members of the pipefish family. Ribboned seadragons are rare to see in aquariums, and come to the Vancouver Aquarium from a breeding program at the Dallas World Aquarium. They live for about 3-5 years, and are fed a diet of frozen and live mysids (a shrimp-like crustacean).

In addition, visitors can now peek into the Aquarium’s wet lab through a brand new local species exhibit. Filled with animals like juvenile rockfish, perch, tubeworms, sea pens, crustaceans and anemones, the exhibit is meant to represent what you’d find under a dock anywhere along the BC coast. And through the glass on the other side, guests can see students participating in one of the Aquarium’s popular wet lab education programs.

 The ribboned seadragon

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For more information, please contact:

Brenda Jones

Manager, Public Relations

publicrelations@vanaqua.org