Monterey Bay Aquarium’s top 10 animals – celebrating 40 years of inspiring conservation of the ocean

Summary

To celebrate 40 years of inspiring ocean conservation, Monterey Bay Aquarium staff share their favorite animals and why they matter. The lineup includes hammerheads, sea nettles, giant deep-sea isopods, African penguins, giant sea bass, rockfish, nudibranchs, giant Pacific octopuses, sea otters, and ocean sunfish. Along the way, staff mix fun facts with conservation messages, from the strange beauty of jellies and the intelligence of octopuses to the recovery of sea otters and the importance of protecting rockfish populations. The video also highlights how marine protected areas, rescue and rehabilitation work, and reducing plastic pollution help ocean species thrive. It’s part love letter to aquarium favorites and part reminder that every animal is connected to the health of Monterey Bay and the wider ocean.

Highlights

• Staff reveal their personal favorite ocean animals to celebrate 40 years of conservation at Monterey Bay Aquarium 🎉
• The aquarium’s sea nettle exhibit gets a shoutout as one of the most photographed and visually stunning displays 🌟
• Giant deep-sea isopods spark debate: cute, terrifying, or somehow both? 😅
• African penguins win hearts with their waddles, short stature, and surprisingly noisy calls 📣
• Rockfish get credit for being both fascinating and delicious, with seafood choices guided by conservation science 🍽️
• Nudibranchs are called hidden gems of the tide pools because of their colorful, jewel-like appearance 💎
• Giant Pacific octopuses impress with thousands of suckers and incredible camouflage skills 🦑
• Sea otters are framed as magical, iconic, and essential to healthy coastal ecosystems 🌿
• Ocean sunfish amaze visitors with their giant size and unusual pancake-like shape 🥞
• The video closes by linking animal care to ocean protection, especially reducing plastic waste and supporting conservation action ♻️

Key Takeaways

• Hammerheads are built for hunting and look even cooler up close with their iconic head shape 🦈
• Sea nettles and nudibranchs prove that tiny, overlooked creatures can be total showstoppers ✨
• Giant deep-sea isopods are basically football-sized rolly pollies from the deep sea 😳
• African penguins are adorable, loud, and perfectly adapted to climates like Monterey’s 🐧
• Rockfish can live for decades or even centuries, and conservation has helped their populations rebound 🎣
• Giant Pacific octopuses are ultra-smart, powerful, and can taste and smell with their arms 🐙
• Sea otters are a conservation success story and a key species for keeping kelp forests healthy 🦦
• Ocean sunfish are massive, bizarre, and vulnerable to plastic pollution that looks like jellyfish to them 🌊

Overview

This video feels like a fun behind-the-scenes staff pick list, but it’s really a celebration of the aquarium’s bigger mission. Each animal comes with a quick story, a fun fact, and a reminder that the ocean is full of wildly different creatures worth caring about.

Some picks are crowd-pleasers, like sea otters and penguins, while others spotlight the weird and wonderful side of marine life, like nudibranchs, isopods, and ocean sunfish. That mix makes the video feel playful and surprising, while still teaching viewers a lot about biodiversity.

The conservation message ties everything together. From protecting rockfish with marine protected areas to rescuing sea otters and cutting down plastic pollution, the video makes it clear that loving ocean animals also means taking action to protect their habitats and future.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 02:30: Introduction: Staff Favorites at the Aquarium The aquarium introduces a staff-driven countdown of the top 10 favorite animals to celebrate 40 years of ocean conservation, inviting viewers to see which species employees love most.
• 02:30 - 05:00: Hammerheads and African Penguins The chapter highlights African penguins, describing their short, waddling appearance and emphasizing that their Monterey exhibit has no ice or snow because they come from the warm coast of South Africa. It also notes that their loud, noisy calls are part of their charm.
• 05:00 - 07:30: Giant Sea Bass and Rockfish Rockfish are highlighted as a tasty and sustainable seafood choice, with thriving populations thanks to marine protected areas and Seafood Watch rating all U.S. rockfishes as Best Choice or Good Alternative. The segment then shifts to nudibranchs, described as colorful, jewel-like sea slugs with thousands of species and new ones still being discovered, appreciated as hidden gems of the ocean. It closes by introducing the giant Pacific octopus, emphasizing its large size, color- and shape-changing abilities, and extraordinary suckers that help it grip, feel, taste, and sense its surroundings.
• 07:30 - 10:00: Nudibranchs and Sea Otters This segment highlights how sea otters sense the world through their arms, essentially using them like noses to detect smells on different surfaces. It then focuses on sea otters as iconic and adorable animals—rescued, non-releasable individuals cared for at Monterey Bay Aquarium—which plays a major role in rehabilitating and releasing otters back into the wild. The narration emphasizes their importance to California’s coastal ecosystem, especially their role in keeping kelp forests healthy and resilient to climate change, while framing them as a powerful example of Monterey Bay’s interconnected marine life.
• 10:00 - 12:30: Ocean Sunfish and Conservation Message An ocean sunfish visits the Open Sea exhibit, delighting visitors because of its unusual appearance and the sense that it is a remarkable, unforgettable animal.

Monterey Bay Aquarium’s top 10 animals – celebrating 40 years of inspiring conservation of the ocean Transcription

• Segment 1: 00:00 - 02:30 [Music] here at the Monterey Bay Aquarium tons of our guests have a favorite ocean animal or exhibit but what about our staff to celebrate 40 Years of inspiring conservation of the ocean we thought we'd ask some of our staff what their favorite animals are so here they are the aquarium's top 10 favorite animals [Music] Hammerheads are so amazing uh I mean just look at their head right to marine biologists we call their head a seop foil if you've ever seen a hammerhead locking onto a fish that it has decided to hunt I always think of it as like a jet fighter that's locked onto its [Music] Target the big SE nle exhibit that we have at the aquarium it it's just gorgeous I believe our cetal exhibit is the most photographed exhibit in the entire aquarium and if guests ask me why I take them to the exhibit sea Nettles and other types of jellies don't have brains they don't have bones or spines and yet they're still animals that exhibit is really an incredible celebration of an amazing and little understood animal [Music] a giant deep SE I spot is basically like a rly Poley or a pill bug that you'd find in your backyard but the size of a football I think you can tell a lot about a person depending on if they think that the giant isopod is cute or [Music] terrifying I think I've all slightly terrifying its eyes are really dark and they look into your soul a little bit um but the top rolly pulley part is also kind of cute can I be both it's so cool looking creature it looks like a giant kakar roach [Music] right I think African penguins are a huge hit with our visitors because they
• Segment 2: 02:30 - 05:00 look pretty cute they're very short they waddle around on those little feet there's no ice or snow in our exhibit because our African penguins aren't used to ice and snow African penguins come from the coast of South Africa which actually shares a climate that's very similar to montere one element that I wish people could experience is the sound of an African penguin [Music] oh boy African penguins are [Laughter] [Music] noisy the giant seab bass is something with a very large presence in our exhibits let's just say that giant SE basss first start their life out they're really small and they look quite different to these large gray adults that you might be used to a baby giant black seab bass is the cutest thing you'll ever see it's bright orange with a big old black pectoral fins and big black spots on it it doesn't look anything like the big gray lunking spotted Behemoth that lunks around in the exhibit giant seab bass when they eat they use a gulping technique you can see everything and the water just whoosh suck in when they do that big gulp you want to be sure that your hand isn't too close to their mouth cuz your hand gets sucked in there doesn't hurt or anything like that it's really cool but it can also be intimidating when their mouth is about the size of your [Music] head rock fish are so cool because they can live very long uh some of the Rockfish can live up to 200 years there could be a rockfish right now in the Monterey Bay that was hatched when Abraham Lincoln was president if you visit our kelp forest exhibit you will see Rockfish everywhere they are hanging out on the Rocks trying to blend in with the kelp blades or just swimming around the water
• Segment 3: 05:00 - 07:30 column another thing about the rock fish is that they actually uh good fish to eat uh I love eating rock fish thanks to the establishment of marine protected areas Rockfish populations are thriving all rockfishes in the united states are considered a Best Choice or good alternative on our Seafood Watch program so yeah sorry Rockfish but you taste good [Music] a nud Brink is kind of like a sea slug so they're mollusks like clams and muscles and scallops but they come in all sorts of colors you have to get up close to see them but they're like a jewel in the tide poles in the kelp forest they're like a piece of [Music] art who isn't a fan of nuda Brinks there are over 3,000 species of n Brinks and there are still new species being discovered I think people at the aquarium are new Brink fans because we like the fact that the hidden gems of the ocean are often overlooked it's easy to get people excited about otter and penguins like they're amazing but to get someone excited about a new to Brink I mean that's like a home run I caught the eye of many of my co-workers the other day because I mentioned that I am kind of over nuta branks I [Music] know oo all right this is a good one my favorite ocean animal or animal of all time is actually our giant pacific octopuses giant Pacific octopus are a cold water species of octopus they can reach pretty large sizes the largest one on record had over a foot armspan they're the masters of these guys and they can change color and shape instantly like underwater chameleon I have a lot of respect for the strength of the giant Pacific octopus they have over 2,000 suckers across their eight arms these allow them to hold on to
• Segment 4: 05:00 - 07:30 anything that they could want those suckers in fact are super super cool because they allow them to not only feel the world around them but they can also taste the world around them as well they can smell their environment check out
• Segment 5: 07:30 - 10:00 what different surfaces that they're engaging with they actually smell through their arms right he might you have a bunch of little noses even good smells that might be a little too [Music] much when I think about a sea otter frankly the first thing I think about is Magic the first time I ever saw a sea otter it was like seeing a unicorn I think people say sea otter are cute because they are they have big eyes a ton of fur cute little noses and of course Little Paws that they use to grab onto things our sea otters are rescues who are non-releasable meaning that they would not survive in the wild seots are an absolutely iconic species here in Monterey Bay and and recovering them has been a central project of the monter Bay Aquarium to which we've been very committed for the past 40 years here at montere Bay Aquarium we have programs that are designed to help rescue and rehabilitate sea otters and release them back to the wild they are incredibly important to California's coastal ecosystem kelp forests are healthier and more resilient to climate change when SE DS are present they're just a great way to tell the story of the interconnectedness of all the plants and animals that make up Monterey [Music] Bay I would have to say my favorite animal at the aquarium is the ocean sunfish or mola um they are such an unlikely animal oh I love the Sunfish to me just it looks like a pancake with flaps imagine the largest pizza you can conceive that you've stood up on its side and added fins to the top bottom and back as well as bright eyes that look like they're shocked at everything that's happening around them ocean sunfish are the largest bony fish in the
• Segment 6: 07:30 - 10:00 ocean period they can reach over 10 ft across and almost 5,000 lb and you just
• Segment 7: 10:00 - 12:30 have to wonder how does it swim the ocean sunfish are occasional and temporary visitors to our Open Sea exhibit and everyone gets super excited when they see them it sounds so silly to get so excited about one fish but when you see one it's like nothing you've ever seen before it's a really incredible [Music] animal ocean sunfish eat mostly jellyfish out in the wild in the wild ocean sunfish and other animals are mistaking our plastic for their food when you have plastic floating on the surface it looks exactly like a jelly to an ocean sunfish and that is what they eat we can do our part to protect ocean sunfish and all the other ocean animals that we love by reducing the plastic we use and supporting legislation that will help reduce plastic at the source the fact that the monter bay equ Ari's mission is to inspire conservation of the ocean is really what helps guide me when I'm taking care of these animals every day I feel thankful and grateful for the opportunity to have been able to participate in this Legacy of ocean conservation that the aquarium has been conducting throughout its 40-year history thanks for watching everyone if you want to learn more about our favorite animals go to our website at monter Bay aquarium.org and don't forget to leave a comment and tell us what your favorite ocean animal is