Featured Image Credit: earth.com
By: Laura O’Brien
Newport Aquarium in Ohio is preparing for the debut of their new exhibit in March of 2018. The exhibit, Ring of Fire, will host a variety of animals and offer an immersive experience using special sounds and lighting. The Pacific Ring of Fire, the exhibit’s namesake, is a collection of volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean. The huge, vaguely ring-shaped area holds a host of major tectonic events, including volcanic eruptions and devastating earthquakes. Amazingly, resilient and diverse wildlife are able to flourish in the area, despite the dangers of life in the ring.
The Ring of Fire exhibit aims to showcase some of these animals and their unusual abilities and adaptations. Animals that will be highlighted at Newport Aquarium exhibit include moon jellyfish, Japanese spider crabs, and the giant Pacific octopus. Animals that make their home in the Pacific Ring of Fire have many different adaptations that help them survive in such a tumultuous environment.
Giant Pacific octopuses, for instance, are able to camouflage to match their environment with amazing accuracy; and their high level of intelligence makes them very formidable predators as well as very difficult-to-catch prey. When discussing the life that exists within the ring, Newport Aquarium’s Executive Director Eric Rose said, “it’s fascinating how awesome Mother Nature and the ocean are to have animals that thrive in that turbulent environment”.
The resilience that life shows in the face of extreme adversity is truly outstanding, and the species that have overcome and adapted to the severe conditions of the Ring of Fire are a wonderful example of the robustness of life on Earth.
Learn more from our source.