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A photo of Shedd Aquarium's new special exhibit, Underwater Beauty, featuring a winding corridor of habitats interspersed with digital and physical interactive experiences.

Underwater Beauty

In Shedd’s new special exhibit, 100 species from around the world embody living art shaped by the unmatched forces of nature and time.

UNDERWATER BEAUTY IS SPONSORED BY

  • The Citadel logo
A group of orange anthias swim together in a rocky habitat. Their sharply forked tails and bright orange fins and bodies make for a beautiful shimmering effect as they swim closely grouped together.
Visitors to Shedd's Underwater Beauty Special Exhibit hunker down to peer into a spherical habitat with "floating" rocks.

What is beauty?

From angels to dragons, the weird to the unexpected, every aquatic animal is beautiful in how it’s adapted to thrive in its environment. Skeleton shrimp wiggle and wobble their bodies like they’re dancing, but they’re really catching a passing meal. Flower hat jellies have added fluorescence to the tips of their stinging tentacles, which bob like plankton in the current, fooling hungry fishes into coming within striking distance.

Live cam

Need to recharge? Take a break for beauty with our Underwater Beauty live cam! Discover the dreamlike patterns of angelfishes, wrasses, tangs and butterflyfishes.

An artist stands on a fold-out ladder as he paints a colorful desptiction of a stylized mantis shrimp for Shedd's Underwater Beauty mural project on the side of a building in Chicago.

Underwater Beauty neighborhood murals

Dive into a world of beauty worth saving with street art across Chicago, from Edgewater to Bronzeville, all inspired by the diverse animals of Underwater Beauty.

Underwater Beauty Murals Map

Beauty worth saving

Every aquatic animal is beautiful. Each one features colors, patterns and rhythms exquisitely evolved for surviving and thriving underwater. The mandarin dragonet, whose toxicity is advertised with swirling psychadelic patterns? Beautiful. The mudpuppy, whose drab skin hides it in plain sight on the muddy lake bottom? Beautiful too!

At Shedd, we want to ensure that all underwater beauty is conserved, protected and treasured because each animal plays a critical role in maintaining the balance and health of its aquatic environment.

How can you help save Underwater Beauty?

Flowerhat Jelly

White-Spotted Jelly

Weedy Seadragon

Mantis shrimp

Ochre Sea Star

Longnose Hawkfish

Ribbon Eel

Flamboyant cuttlefish