List of Museums/Aquaria with cephalopods

Mark Carnall

Blue Ring
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Jun 28, 2016
Messages
37
Location
Oxford
Hi all. I was struck whilst reading the news about the (never identified) octopus escaping from National Aquarium of New Zealand that the aquarium didn't mention it's displays on their website.

Is there an existing list of aquaria that have or have had cephalopod's or are they so niche that this isn't captured.

The same is true of museums. There are a few checklists of type specimens but no database.

Anyone keen on creating these lists?
 
I encourage anyone who has visited public aquariums and photographed their cephs to add to the list and include photos :biggrin2:

I'll start with the few that I know about:

Monterey Bay Aquarium (Monterey, CA)- The ultimate in ceph viewing, their Special exhibit, Tentacles, is still open. Here are some TONMOcon II photos from MBARI before the Tentacles exhibit opened

California Academy of Sciences (San Francisco, CA) has a GPO, nautilus and Sepia Bendensis most of the time but also Flamboyant cuttles and occasionally some very special ceph inhabitants (Larger Pacific Striped Octopus, Lesser Pacific Striped Octopus) as they are available. @Thales help me out here if I've forgotten a regular. See TONMOcon V photos for some of the cephs we saw.

Georgia Aquarium (Atlanta, GA) - usually a GPO in their cold water exhibit, I have not seen but have heard (I would like to think my suggestion helped but don't know that it did) O. cyanea is now on display, from time to time they have either S. officinalis or Sepia apama in their cuttlefish tank.

Mote Marine Lab and Aquarium (Sarasota, FL) - In their limited time exhibit and nurseries they have had Flamboyant cuttlefish, Sepia Bendensis, Octopus briareus and Octopus mercatoris. They kept a pair of O. vulgaris for more than two years but they have passed away and not been replaced. Most animals are locally sourced (Flamboyants being a notable exception). TONMOcon VI photos (there are more of the cephs but I can't seem to locate them ATM)

Aquariums I have not visited but list a ceph that may or may not be currently on display:


Shedd Aquarium (Chicago, IL) - GPO and Nautilus

The Seattle Aquarium (Seattle WA) - has a GPO but I don't know what else (I have never been there).

South Carolina Aquarium (Charleston, SC) - Octopus vulgaris

National Aquarium (Baltimore, MD) - GPO and nautilus

Waikiki Aquarium (HI) - Cuttlefish , Nautilus, Octopus (probably O. cyanea)

Sea World (Orlando, FL) - GPO
Sea World (Durban, South Africa) - Octopus vulgaris
 
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