Lagoon
Get Tropical
A swirl of vibrant, Day-Glo color. Swishing tails, fluttering fins. Leopard prints, neon yellow stripes, hot orange lips. It’s a balmy, tropical world in the Lagoon, with fish and and an eel swimming in a sandy, Indo-Pacific reef.
NOTE: Due to current Covid-19 restrictions, the lower viewing window is temporarily closed.
Swim into the Lagoon
Wrasse
Time to clean up.
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Wrasse come in many shapes, colors and sizes, from 3 inches to 8 feet.
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Some maintain cleaning stations for other fish, removing parasites and dead tissue.
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Tang tails
Slashing, slicing
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Tangs are oval shaped fish with a sharp spine at the base of their tails.
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It can slash intruders or be as exact as a surgeon's scalpel.
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Angelfish
It's all about looks.
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Angelfish have bright color patterns they use to identify threats to their territory.
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Young fish look different from adults so they can swim nearby without being chased.
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A Plastic Ocean?
THE THREAT: By 2050, scientists predict that there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. Plastic trash builds up on land and, despite our best efforts, eventually blows or washes out to sea, where it chokes and starves marine animals.
HOW TO HELP: Reduce your use of plastic. Choose reusable items like lunch wrappings and water bottles; say no to straws and extra packaging. Help protect our ocean.
Aquarium Stories
What a year this has been! From clouded leopard AI to a new muskox calf, from Zoolights to HeroRATs and everything in between, we’ve captured this year in our best photos of 2020.
Visit the Zoo before the crowds arrive, feed an unusual hero, groom a goat, dive with sharks or go behind-the-scenes of the Pacific Seas Aquarium. Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium is expanding its Zoo for You exclusive animal experiences with two new premier adventures. In addition to grooming goats, diving with sharks and a behind-the-scenes … Continued
Aquarist John Foster cradled the vermilion rockfish gently in two hands, submersed. Anesthetized, it lay still as veterinarian Dr. Kadie Anderson took a quick documentary photo of its eyes, which bulged to each side. Then Foster lowered the fish – now fully awake – into a water-filled container that looked something like sci-fi author Jules … Continued