This kelp forest simulates those found along the Pacific coast of North America. With the help of nutrient-rich upwelling, kelp can grow to over 60 meters. The gas-filled chambers at the base of their fronds enable kelp to extend to the surface of the water.
The Deep Sea exhibit introduces the special organisms living in the deep sea and their ecology through virtual reality technology. Visitors will experience a trip down to the deep sea in a submarine and enjoy the seemingly real organisms that appear before them.
The entrance to the Deep Sea exhibition site resembles a round shaped cabin of a submarine. The roof installed with a 150 degree screen allows visitors to enjoy the deep sea descending. During the trip, visitors will undergo four levels of depth, starting from shallow water, coral reefs to the mesopelagic zone and finally, the bathypelagic zone.
This exhibit reveals the topography of the bottom of the deep sea, including the remains of a dead whale that is covered by scavengers, deep-sea volcanoes, and hydrothermal vents and their associated, sulfur-utilizing life forms. Visitors can experience remarkable wilderness that can be found in total darkness under immense pressures.
Seawater seeping into cracks of the seafloor is heated by magma and blasted out from an opening. When it meets the cooler seawater, the minerals dissolved in it precipitate in the form of a chimney. Tubeworms and clams utilize the sulfide emitted from these vents as an energy source, enabling them to thrive without sunlight.
Deep-sea animals can adapt to environments with high pressure, low temperatures and scarce prey. To mislead predators, feed and mate, many animals have developed unique features such as bioluminescent organs and large mouths. In one species, the male parasitizes the female to solve the problem of finding a mate in the dark.
Giant octopuses are distributed in the Pacific Ocean from California to Japan. They can be found in depths greater than 1,500 meters. Mating takes place in even deeper waters; however, eggs are laid in shallow waters. These deep-sea giants can weigh from 10 to more than 270 kilograms with their tentacles measuring more than 9 meters.
In the deep sea where no sunlight reaches, bioluminescent animals emit lights incessantly or periodically for the purpose of misleading predators, feeding, communicating and mating. Some of them harbor symbiotic bacteria that provide a light source, while others produce light by their own bioluminescent cells.
Plankton, which is abundant in all of the world’s oceans, is mainly composed of phytoplankton and zooplankton and is an important food resource for marine life. Because of their microscopic size and feeble swimming ability, planktonic organisms can only drift with currents and tides.
Although the diversity of living organisms in the polar waters is low, polar organisms have finely adapted to their frigid conditions. The main purpose of this exhibition is to introduce visitors to the basic ecology of the polar waters through virtual demonstrations on the Arctic and Antarctic environments. As a highlight, visitors can also see live Antarctic penguins and Arctic puffins.