I’m not a fish keeper and when I was I only kept basic freshwater, so understanding how a salt-water tank operates is a bit over my head. The size of the operation, however, is staggering. Chris, our guide, works on the pumps and is one of 20 staffers on site to handle issues that may arise. While he wasn’t an animal keeper, he had a great appreciation for the one animal I have reported on a lot this year, the sea turtles. According to him, they can be quite the handful and tend to really like to mess with you a lot. This I am sure is quite entertaining during the summer when they need to get corralled and transported to their basking tanks.

My favorite part of the behind the scenes tour was standing in the shipwreck reef tank. It is a 1.3 million gallon exhibit teaming with sharks, green sea turtles, sawfish and this cool fish that I cannot locate the name of that is almost a hybrid of a shark and a stingray. Standing on the catwalk, looking down and watching them swim were not only relaxing but amazingly beautiful. The green sea turtles following along because they wanted food, watching one of my favorite apex predators so close I could cuddle them, not to mention the calming glow the water gave. In each exhibit is a smaller aquarium set to the side running the same water. This is their safety tank. They run health checks on that animal because it is set aside and far less stressful than pulling a random fish out of the exhibit. This animal shows the health of all in the exhibit and will alert keepers to a problem in the exhibit as a whole.

While I didn’t get to handle the Komodo, I still got to see him and that made my day. Thanks Jack and Kim for making this possible.

Here is a short video of looking down into the shark reef followed by a batch of photos from the exhibit. For the full gallery, click here.





Pair of Green tree Monitors on exhibit


Looking up in the tunnel of the Shipwreck Exhibit at a Sea Turtle


View from above, looking down at a Green Sea Turtle.


Another Green Sea Turtle, couldn't help myself, they are cute!


The inside of a pump at Mandalay Bay


Mandalay Bay makes their own salt water in these tanks. Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs had to clean them.


One days growth of Brine Shrimp from left to right eggs, larve and feed ready shrimp.


KOMODO! Do I need to say more?


Golden Crocodile hybrid of C. porosus and C. siamensis. Saltwater/Siamese hybrid.


This one is for Dr. Fry. Jelly's on display.


Statue on the pool area of Mandalay Bay. Too cute!