SARASOTA – Deadly poison. Killer punches. Looking like a rock and hoping for the best. Welcome to the world of Survivors: Beautiful and Extreme Adaptations — a new limited-time exhibit launching Feb. 1, 2014, in The Aquarium at Mote Marine Laboratory that will reveal what it takes to make a living as a marine animal or amphibian in today’s world.
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The Vietnamese mossy frog (top), a master of camouflage, the peacock mantis shrimp (middle), which packs a powerful punch and the beautiful but toxic flamboyant cuttlefish are among the amazing animals that will be featured in Survivors: Beautiful and Extreme Adaptations, which opens Feb. 1, 2014 in The Aquarium at Mote Marine Laboratory. |
Featuring the peacock mantis shrimp, whose punch packs the power of a .22-caliber bullet, the blue-ringed octopus, which has some of the strongest venom on Earth, and many other stunning survivors — including the first frogs ever displayed at Mote — the exhibit will reveal how animals are shaped by their environments.
Survivors is the third limited-time exhibit at Mote, following the highly successful exhibits Penguin Island and Sea Lions: On the Water’s Edge.
“Survivors will be the most diverse, colorful and exotic exhibit we’ve ever hosted — we’ll be featuring animals native to many different ocean basins around the world and demonstrating why nature has a place for all of them, including the most dangerous ones,” said Dan Bebak, Vice President for The Aquarium at Mote.
Survivors will also reveal how humans can stay out of the “most dangerous” category by helping ecosystems remain in balance.
Highlights from the exhibit include:
Visitor Information
Survivors: Beautiful and Extreme Adaptations
Open Feb. 1 through Sept. 14, 2014, in The Aquarium at Mote Marine Laboratory.
Free with paid admission to The Aquarium. (Mote Members always get in free.) Pricing at mote.org/visit.
Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 365 days per year.