South Carolina Aquarium on Charleston Harbor: Exhibits ~ Ocean

The Ocean Gallery allows visitors to see the varied habitats found in the ocean off the coast of South Carolina. The centerpiece of this gallery is the massive, two-story Great Ocean Tank which holds 385,000 gallons of salt water and contains hundreds of animals, including sharks, pufferfish and a loggerhead sea turtle that weighs over 280 pounds. Other exhibits display jellyfish, colorful reef fish and live baby sharks developing within their egg cases.

The Great Ocean Tank depicts deeper water reefs much like those found in the Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary located southeast of Charleston. These large reef habitats support a tremendous variety of fish, invertebrates, sea turtles and marine mammals. Gray’s Reef is the calving ground for the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale. graysreef.noaa.gov

FEATURED SPECIES
ANIMAL DATABASE

Because the red side of the Short Bigeye

spectrum does not penetrate very deeply in water, the bright orange coloration of a bigeye fish is actually a form of camouflage. Species Sheet

Because a moon jelly does not have a brain, their stinging cells

act on a trigger, so as long as they are wet, they can sting you even when they are dead.
Species Sheet

Surgeonfish have their name

because of a spine at the base of their tail that is as sharp as a scalpel and is used to protect themselves from predators.
Species Sheet

Sand tiger sharks exhibit

“survival of the fittest” inside the womb. The shark pups will eat each other while still inside their mother.
Species Sheet

Fish	Invertebrates	Reptiles	Amphibians
Brook Trout Burrfish Fieryblack Shiner Green Moray Eel Lined Seahorse Lookdown Megalodon Shark Nurse Shark Robust Redhorse Sucker Sandtiger Shark Short Bigeye Southern Flounder Spanish Hogfish Surgeonfish	Common Octopus Common Seastar Fiddler Crab Horseshoe Crab Moon Jelly Purple Sea Urchin Sea Anemone	American Alligator Diamondback Rattlesnake Loggerhead Spotted Softshell	Greater Siren
Birds	Mammals	Plants
Barred Owl Great Blue Heron Northern Cardinal	River Otter	Eastern Hemlock Venus Flytrap

Take and exclusive Behind the Scenes Tour of the Great Ocean Tank! Lean more

Download Exhibit Map

Jellyfish Machine!
Cannonball Jellies

The jellyfish life cycle is occurring behind the scenes each day at the Aquarium! Jellyfish would be injured if they were to be collected in the wild by Aquarium staff, so instead we breed our own jellyfish here.
Games and Activities

Create your own ocean reef habitat. What fish live here? What other animals might live here? Exhibit Coloring Sheet

Learn about fish body parts and build your own to test out. Play Fish Fusion