A major expansion at the Seattle Aquarium opens this Thursday, August 29. Follow along exclusively with KIRO 7 to welcome the new additions at kiro7.com/aquarium.
The Ocean Pavilion features sharks, rays, corals, and hundreds of fish.
The expansion highlights the Coral Triangle, a region in the Indo-Pacific. It includes several habitats that feature 3,500 animals and plants.
The expansion also marks the first time the Seattle Aquarium has welcomed eagle rays. They’ll join a reef habitat with hundreds of other fish and nearly 500,000 gallons of water.
“They’re just really intelligent,” said Animal Care Team Member Makayla Taylor. “They’re really cool.”
Taylor fed the rays Thursday with shrimp and bonito fish. During feedings, Taylor shakes a rattle and holds an orange target that the rays are trained to spot in the water. She feeds them by hand.
“I kind of grow to know their little quirks and their little mannerisms,” Taylor said.
The rays came together from Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma.
“When the eagle rays came together, they kind of circled each other and you could tell they recognized each other,” Taylor said.
The rays are just one piece of the Ocean Pavilion expansion, which has been years in the making.
“This undertaking has been, it seems, like life’s work for so many people,” said Tim Kuniholm, Seattle Aquarium’s senior director of public relations and strategic partnerships. “We feel a little bit like Willy Wonka opening the gates to the chocolate factory.”
Taylor hopes guests develop the same love for these creatures as she has.
“I definitely have fallen in love with them,” she said. “I hope that’s what the public gets to do when they come in this space and that they feel some kind of need to protect these animals in the wild.”
Tickets are available for purchase online.