Momentum - Business to Business Online Magazine Summer 2017 Issue | Page 17

Hidden behind the doors of Moody Gardens’ Aquarium
Pyramid awaits an awe-inspiring underwater experience
that includes a new Humboldt Penguin Habitat, a Mangrove
Lagoon touch tank that is home to stingrays and sharks
and a multi-level 30,000 gallon Oil Rig Tank.
Moody Gardens hosted a Grand Reveal May 27, 2017,
giving guests their first glimpse into the completed multi-
phased $37 million renovation project at the Aquarium
Pyramid.
Guests will journey to new depths this summer, exploring
the Gulf of Mexico, South Atlantic, South Pacific, North
Pacific and the Caribbean. Each ocean exhibit highlights
different marine sanctuaries and relationship aspects to
the seas with conservation messages that underscore the
vital importance of the oceans.
Meet the new Humboldt penguins
Moody Gardens is thrilled to introduce these unique warm-
climate penguins that hail from Southern Hemisphere
waters from the Antarctic Pole to the Equator. This is
the second penguin exhibit at Moody Gardens and the
Humboldts are right next door to the South Atlantic Penguin
Habitat, home to the King, Gentoo, Chinstrap, Rockhopper
and Macaroni penguins. As part of the recent renovations,
the South Atlantic Penguin Habitat is newly enhanced to
better benefit guests and the health and livelihood of the
penguins within.
Gulf of Mexico Rig Exhibit
See the balance of technology and nature through this
impressive 30,000 gallon, two-story, 23-foot scale model
oil production platform aquarium. These manmade islands
provide valuable attachment surfaces for a variety of
encrusting organisms to create an entire reef ecosystem
found throughout the Gulf of Mexico. This new exhibit
includes diver communication for presentations and
interaction, further engaging guests in their underwater
experience.
The Caribbean
Journeys to the Caribbean begin with the new Mangrove
Lagoon. Touch Cownose Stingrays and Bonnethead Sharks
as they swim lazily around the jungle of stilt roots that most
of the region’s fish call home. Naturalists are on hand to
help guests learn more about these important ecosystems.
A second touch tank features small fish, Sea Stars, Hermit
Crabs, Pencil Urchins and other invertebrates allowing
guests to cross the water/air border.
Moody Gardens is highlighting a hidden gem from the
Gulf of Mexico. The new Flower Garden Banks Exhibit
brings attention to the unique tropical coral reef system
found just 115 miles offshore.
With help from the Flower Garden Banks National Marine
Sanctuary, guests experience the East Flower Garden Bank,
West Flower Garden Bank and Stetson Bank up close and
personal. The exhibit includes examples of Brain, Star and
Elkhorn coral, to name a few, all of which can be seen on
the banks. The Flower Garden Banks reef system is one of
the healthiest in the Gulf and Caribbean regions.
Photo courtesy of Moody Gardens
Guests are completely immersed in the Caribbean Exhibit
with breathtaking views as Sharks, Rays and other tropical
fish swim overhead while they walk through the tunnel in
this one million-gallon exhibit, giving them the sense of
diving in the Caribbean.
New to the exhibit is The Pride, a 19th century rum-runner
shipwreck replica, loosely based on the vessel sailed by
famed Galveston pirate Jean Lafitte. Divers spent a total
of 68.5 hours underwater putting together the ship, which
arrived in about 75 individual pieces.
Also new are in-water presentations by Moody Gardens
divers. With additions to the exhibit, guests are bound to
have questions. Divers are now able to take and answers
questions while in the exhibit.
North Pacific Gallery
This exhibit focuses on the high-energy coastline to the west.
Seals and Sea Lions are featured prominently alongside
other kelp forest inhabitants including Leopard Sharks
and the long-lived Rockfish. Jewel aquariums highlight the
coastal surge zone, ingenious Giant Pacific Octopus and
the relatively unknown deep water coral communities that
act as nursery habitat for many commercial fisheries.
And, that’s not all
Don’t miss out on the whimsical and colorful array of soft-
bodied predators inside the new Jellyfish Gallery. Lights,
sounds and textures further enhance the display of these
free swimming coral relatives.
There’s also the South Pacific Biome that showcases the
tremendous diversity that is found in the epicenter of the
coral reef evolution. Colorful corals, invertebrates, fishes
and sharks fill the niche habitats highlighted in the large
and small aquarium features.
Guests are able to engage with aquarium staff as they
perform essential functions in the working conservation
lab. Watch and ask questions as they work in the nursery,
perform aquarium water quality tests, necropsies, grow
algae as a food source and other functions in their daily
lab work.
New exhibits will not only inspire visitor interest and
empathy, but also connect visitors to specific ocean
habitats, further establishing the Moody Gardens Aquarium
Pyramid as the largest and most diverse aquarium in the
southwest.
MOMENTUM / Summer 2017
17