Our wildlife breeding program reduces the need to collect species from the wild.
Fertilized bonito eggs are collected almost daily from the main Outer Bay exhibit.
Baby Boom
September 1999
Our husbandry staff receives a Significant Achievement award from the American Zoo and Aquarium Association for the first successful culture of Pacific bonito. Aquarists hatch and raise these open-ocean fish with fertilized eggs collected in the Outer Bay exhibit. By culturing and raising a variety of species here and sharing the animals with other Aquariums, none of the institutions need to collect those species in the wild.
Well-Bred Wildlife
Bonito are pelagic spawners that produce buoyant eggs. Those in our display usually spawn on a daily basis—look for swift, erratic swimming behavior by one or more fish chasing another. The fertilized eggs float around in the exhibit and usually end up in the overflow box, where they're scooped out with a fine net. Bonito hatch very quickly—in about 36 hours—compared to some fishes that can take seven to ten days. This research could lead to the successful culturing of fishes never before hatched in captivity, especially those listed as threatened species.
Our Other Offspring
Our husbandry staff also has success raising bay pipefish, midshipmen, crevice kelpfish, smooth ronquils, painted greenlings, tubesnouts, cuttlefish, two-spotted octopuses, squid, white shrimp and several species of jellies and corals.
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