Plenty of Room to Swim
The Living Seas holds the largest closed-system marine environment in the world. It's so large that Spaceship Earth could be placed inside with enough room to swim completely around it! Approximately 2,200 animals, representing over 50 different species, live in the main environment. These include several species of ray (eagle, southern sting ray, and cow-nose), endangered green sea turtles, brown and blacknose sharks, spotted grouper (which weigh a mighty 400 pounds!), and an array of coral reef fish species. The Living Seas is also home to two species of marine mammals -- Atlantic bottlenose dolphin and the endangered West Indian manatee. To keep all of the Living Seas residents and their environment clean and healthy, a filtration system pumps 34,000 gallons of water per minute, allowing the entire 5.7-gallon environment to be recycled in less then three hours!

Hungry? Diverse Diets for Seas Inhabitants
Approximately 300 pounds of high quality food, including shrimp, clams, krill, squid, mackerel, and lettuce, is prepared each morning for the residents of the coral reef environment. Divers distribute this food three times daily. The rays are fed clams by hand, while the sea turtles prefer romaine lettuce. The staff inserts weights into the lettuce, allowing the turtles to feed near the bottom of the coral reef environment.

The brown and blacknose sharks are typically fed fresh fish, including bonita, salmon, and mackerel, every other day. The sharks are trained to come to a specific feeding location by using audio and visual cues before the food is offered. The fish is then fed to the sharks using long feeding tongs. Feeding them in this manner prevents the sharks from associating divers with food and allows the Living Seas Staff to separate different species at mealtime.