Newport Aquarium debuts new exhibit on octopuses and deep-sea creatures

To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the Newport Aquarium is introducing a new exhibit featuring octopuses and deep-sea creatures.

“Ring of Fire: World of the Octopus” contains seven displays with creatures that live between volcanoes and deep ocean trenches in the part of the world with the most earthquakes of any region on the planet. The extreme conditions make for these unusual animals.

The biologist who cares for the animals, Rob Wilson, said they are shape shifters, and their color changes to hide from predators. 

“Octopus, in general, are more ambush predators than anything, so they hunker down and let the prey come to them, or they’ll slowly stalk a prey amongst their habitat,” Wilson said. “It’s natural to look like their environment just so they can actually not be a target for potential predators like sharks or things like that that might eat them. They don’t have any kind of external protection on them because they are the soft bodies.” 

The exhibit features a new ‘wonderous,’ a striped octopus that mimics the appearance and behaviors of venomous animals, like sea snakes and lionfish, as their way to scare off predators.

A tip from the aquarium: The animals are early risers, so if you want to see them in their most active state, come early. 

According to Wilson, the aquarium has kept the same theme in the Ring of Fire exhibit but developed it further. 

The exhibit showcases different regions of the world. It has a Puget Sound exhibit, representing the area off the coast of Washington. It also has a coastal topical exhibit that represents Indonesia, the Philippines, and northern Australia. The aquarium’s deep-sea hydrothermal vents exhibit is more geared toward Japan and the center of the Pacific Ocean. 

The deep-sea tanks are kept at 52 degrees. Wilson said they monitor water quality and temperature closely. 

“Temperature is the biggest thing, so we have a giant chiller that runs—most of the tanks are chilled, so this water is actually 52 degrees; if you put your hand on there, you can feel how cold it is,” Wilson said. 

The cold-water animals have a slow metabolism and don’t eat as much as those in tropical water. The giant isopods can go months if not years without eating, Wilson said. 

The exhibit will also include a new rotating collection of other octopuses and fish. Animals like the wunderpus have an average life span of one to one and a half years and the aquariums are already six months old. 

“I’m so proud of the hard work the team puts in to bring unusual animals that our guests would otherwise never have a chance to see,” said Executive Director for Newport Aquarium Rebecca Foster. “It’s our hope that by being able to connect with these animals in such a special, memorable environment that they’ll want to join us in protecting them and their habitats in the wild.”