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Animals

Get ready for unforgettable encounters with belugas and bluegills, stingrays and sturgeons, sea stars and sea otters—and so many more animals from aquatic environments around the world. Large or small, freshwater or marine, favorite friends or new ones, the animals at Shedd will surprise, mesmerize, inspire and move you!

A shark swims in the Wild Reef exhibit at Shedd Aquarium.

Sharks

Rescued sea otter Ellie resting in a pile of "kelp" at Shedd Aquarium

Sea Otter

Green sea turtle Nickel has powerful front flippers that she uses to travel quickly around her Caribbean Reef habitat.

Turtles

A magellenic penguin stands on a rock overlooking the water.

Penguins

A weedy seadragon floating at Shedd Aquarium.

Seahorses and Seadragons

A clownfish, about the length of an adult's little finger, swims nearby to the stubby-fronded anemone it calls home.

Saltwater Fishes

Corals look like plants with their repeating "branches", but are in fact made up of many smaller animals living symbiotically.

Corals

A beluga whale peers interestedly at an underwater camera in Shedd's Abbott Oceanarium

Beluga Whale

A 5 armed sea star lays on a large rock.

Sea Stars

Cownose rays' mouths are on the underside of their bodies-- so that every meal is a surprise!

Stingrays

Sea lion Laguna sits mid-turn, tail curled around.

California Sea Lion

Dolphins often travel together in groups, or pods, swimming close behind one another to save energy.

Pacific White-Sided Dolphin

Pacific sea nettles pulse hypnotically through their habitat, their long trailing tentacles brushing against one another.

Jellies

A giant Pacific octopus with eight arms covered in round, grasping suckers spread out to feel its habitat.

Giant Pacific Octopus

A bue poison dart frog sits among tigs and leaves in its habitat, small but brilliantly blue against its green and brown surroundings.

Amphibians

A caiman lizard lounges in its habitat in Amazon Rising, its red head and green body, covered in sharp bumps, distinctive.

Reptiles

Malawi sandsifters have long, trailing fins on their backs and bellies.

Freshwater Fishes

Spiny lobster on a sandy bottom underwater.

Crustaceans

Red tailed hawk Echo has wide wings, white underneath and dark on top for camouflage.

Birds