New Exhibit Spotlight: New England Harbors

Northern red anemones (feline urticine)

Named for the flowers they resemble, these animals have large tentacles branching out from a central stalk to catch food drifting by in the current. Their tentacles are covered in barbed stinging cells called nematocysts that capture a variety of food and bring it to their oral cavity. At the Aquarium, we feed them a mix of shrimp, clam, capelin, silversides, and squid.

The pedal disc at the base of their stalk secretes a type of glue that keeps them anchored to a rock or other surface, but they can slowly move the pedal disc to position themselves in more ideal water flow.

At the New England Harbors exhibit, you’ll learn about these and other fascinating marine animals in the harbor like the Acadian redfish, grubby sculpins (masters of camouflage you’ll have to look very closely to find), and Atlantic silversides, tiny, schooling minnows the Aquarium raised from eggs as part of our aquaculture program.

Deep-sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus)

Named after Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, these scallops can go on explorations of their own, swimming short distances using jet propulsion by snapping their shells open and shut. They also have about 200 iridescent eyes lining the edge of their mantle—yes, eyes! These complex visual organs work similarly to optic systems found in advanced telescopes.

You can roughly age a scallop by counting the rings (annuli) on its shell, much like a tree, with each ring representing one year.