South Florida Science Museum

The McGinty Aquarium

There are dozens of aquariums presently on display at the museum ranging from 10 gallons up to 900 gallons which display animals from all over the world. The aquariums display habitats of shoreline communities, mangroves, coral reefs and more.

	Why Are Corals Colorful? by Lee Dashiell
	McGinty Aquarium Expansion

VIEW OUR AQUARIUMS LIVE-DAY OR NIGHT!
Thanks to HighTechScience.org the McGinty Aquariums now feature one-of-a-kind, infrared underwater aquariums.

HighTechScience.org designed, built and installed an underwater IR video system and placed it inside the shark and alligator tanks. Live images can now be viewed from any web browser. Because the camera is infrared, when the lights go out at night, viewers can still see the marine life. You can even Zoom into any area by clicking on the magnifying glass icon at the bottom left hand side of the picture. You can also capture images and save it to your computer and/or print them out.

The fish & gator cams are hi-res, 520 line resolution, color IR video cameras. The fish-cam because it is underwater, was reinforced by Rick Newman of HighTechScience.org, who made it more waterproof to withstand being continuously immersed in salt water at a depth of approx. 18". The gator-cam is mounted within the alligator enclosure, but is not underwater. Both cameras can "See" in total darkness because of the infrared illumination Mr. Newman installed. THIS CAMERA IS FOR PC USERS ONLY.

Soon, we hope to post scheduled feeding times, for visitors to enjoy lunchtime with our animals. CLICK ICONS BELOW. TYPE IN "GUEST" AND LEAVE PASSWORD BLANK

IF YOU GET A BLANK SCREEN AFTER 2 MINUTES, TRY BACK SHORTLY

		Click the icon at left to view our Pacific tank cam. Type in "guest" under Username, and leave the password blank.

		Click the icon at left to view our baby Gator cam. Type in "guest" under Username and leave the password blank. Enjoy!

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Why Are Corals Colorful / What Happens When they Bleach

By Lee Dashiell

When most people look at coral, either in a picture or an aquarium, there is usually a bit of confusion as to exactly what it is they are looking at. Is it a plant, animal or colorful rock? Well, actually corals are a bit of all three. Corals are scientifically classified as animals because they do feed on plants and animals and breathe oxygen. However, reasons for the confusion are very understandable. Coral movement is often not seen by the average person; they are colored like plants and most are hard like rocks. The best way to describe corals is to compare them to their close relatives, jellyfish. Like jellyfish, corals have stinging tentacles to capture small pray and have translucent body tissues. Unlike jellyfish, many corals attach them selves to substrata and secrete a hard calcareous skeleton and incorporate symbiotic micro-algae into translucent body tissues to give corals the variety of brilliant colors we see. Many anemones and some species of clams and jellyfish incorporate micro-algae within their body tissues as well.




The coral animal or polyp is very small, most not much bigger than the individual letters of the words in this article. Together, theses individual polyps form the large coral heads and reefs we are accustom to seeing. It is that special symbiotic relationship with the micro-algae within the body tissues of these animals that allow such small creatures to build such incredible structures of nature. The micro-algae, collectively called zooxanthellae, within the coral tissue produces nutrients, amino acids and oxygen necessary for healthy coral growth and reef building. In return, corals give the algae a safe place to live, provide the algae with carbon dioxide and nutrients from their waste.

So, what happens when corals bleach? What causes bleaching to occur? Coral bleaching is when the micro-algae within the coral tissues dies or is expelled. Without the symbiotic micro-algae, the corals lose their color and soon die, leaving behind the white bare skeleton. Coral bleaching is caused by an overall rise in the Earth’s average temperature. This became a global occurrence in 1980s and is getting worse at present. Burning of fossil fuels has increased the Earth’s temperature and allowed more potent UV rays to enter the atmosphere. Our delicate coral reefs are among the first organisms to indicate these changes that are occurring on our planet. There is hope in reversing this effect. We work very hard to educate visitors and students about the problems that are occurring on our planet. We have active coral aquaculture and propagation programs where we clone and grow corals in captivity. Everyone can help out by practicing conservational approaches to our day to day use of resources, becoming educated as to what the problems and potential solutions are and supporting alternative fuel sources and green living.

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Baby Alligators, Genetically Altered Fish Find New Home in McGinty Aquarium Expansion

Juvenile alligators, fish that detect pollution and freshwater stingrays are three of five new displays which make up the final expansion and renovation of the McGinty Aquarium at the South Florida Science Museum. All creatures have been fully acclimated and doing well in their new homes. “ Florida has so many fresh water interests, whether it’s lakes, ponds or the Everglades,” says Aquarium Curator Lee Dashiell. “The renovation of the Museum and the aquarium was a perfect time to add these elements. Each tank represents a very special theme for our area.” The McGinty Aquariums, Palm Beach County’s only public aquarium featuring sea life from around the word, includes rare corals from the Red Sea, five species of Pacific Ocean sharks, lion fish, strange bottom-dwelling creatures, Atlantic Ocean tropical fish, and even shark pups born within the Aquariums. The new tanks are a part of an entire renovation of the McGinty Aquariums including updated signage, back-lit signs, carpeting, casing and backdrops to the saltwater tanks.



The themed tanks include:

Baby Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) Through an exchange program with the Bush Wildlife Sanctuary, these young alligators represent Florida Everglades life and the importance of these reptiles in our ecosystem.

Back Yard Canal Life (varied species) This tank holds invasive species of Cory catfish, hatchet fish, neon tetras, Tiger Barb fish and other common, freshwater aquarium fish. The tank explains how the release of decorative, aquarium fish out-competes our native freshwater fish for food and habitat, as well as the efforts of Florida agencies to control the invasive fish populations.

Fish Genetically Altered to Glow in the Dark in the Presence of Pollution Danios (Danio rerio) and Glo Danios (Danio sp.) This tank has an interactive element with a push-button black light which shows the bioluminescence of the genetically altered Glo Danios. The fish are bred to glow in the dark in the presence of pollution. These fish exemplify efforts to monitor levels of contaminants in water.

The World’s Oldest Bony Fish Gar fish (Lepisosteus platyrhincus) This tank represents the evolution of the modern fish. Gar fish have changed very little in more than a million years, and are perfectly adapted to their freshwater environment.
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Email the Curator - Do you have a question for the Aquarium Curator? If so then send him an email. Please make sure the question is related to marine biology and you have at least a week to get a reply. The curator tries to reply as soon as possible to all questions.

Click on the numbers below to see a sampling our our aquarium life.

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Email the Curator - Do you have a question for the Aquarium Curator? If so then send him an email. Please make sure the question is related to marine biology and you have at least a week to get a reply. The curator tries to reply as soon as possible to all questions.

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