New England Aquarium

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The New England Aquarium’s recently completed New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center featuring a Northern fur seal exhibit, which connects the Aquarium’s main building with Boston Harbor.

The New England Aquarium is a global leader in ocean exploration and marine conservation. The Aquarium uses innovative exhibits and education programs to encourage audiences worldwide to Live Blue for a better planet. From leading expeditions to some of the most remote places on the planet to running education programs in Boston’s inner city neighborhoods, the Aquarium has a vast array of projects that are dedicated to educating the public about the most challenging problems facing the oceans today. The Aquarium is among the region’s most-visited tourist attractions and is the only cultural institution in Boston whose mission focuses primarily on the environment. Each year, the Aquarium acts as an educational resource for more than 130,000 school children and thousands of teachers throughout New England. Its website is an electronic gateway to for ocean conservation issues and provides unique research and information from across the globe.

Collaborator Contributions

Phoenix's Tail

The right whale named Phoenix as seen in 2004 off the coast of [insert location here]

Phoenix: Tail Scarring

An early scale model of North Atlantic right whale Phoenix indicates the location of scars on her tail from entanglements with fishing gear. More about the right whale can be found in our Tale of a Whale featured story.

Whales are identifiable by their distinct pattern of callosities.

Whale Callosities

Every North Atlantic right whale has a pattern of callosities unique to that individual. This distinctive pattern provides a very visual, convenient tool that researchers can use to tell one individual from another.

Meet Phoenix—One of about 450 remaining North Atlantic Right Whales

Since 1987, researchers have been tracking Phoenix. More about whales can be found in our Tale of a whale featured story.

Whale Callosity Patterns

The pattern of callosities on this right whale’s head helps researchers identify the individual.

Whale Poop

The brown material in this net is whale scat collected with the help of specially trained dogs. Researchers at the New England Aquarium in Boston use scent detection dogs to locate poop from North Atlantic right whales. The dogs find about four times more whale poop than the researchers. Researchers analyze the scat to learn more about the health and reproduction of the whales.