American Museum of Natural History Announces Unseen Oceans Exhibit

Our world is truly an ocean planet. More than 70 percent of the world's surface is covered by oceans, which contain 99 percent of all habitable space for life on Earth. The oceans are responsible for the production of nearly half of the world's oxygen and for the absorption of a significant portion of greenhouse gases, making them essential to the health and well-being of all life on Earth. But surprisingly, only 5-10 percent of the ocean's vast realms have been explored-a staggering gap in knowledge.

But that is beginning to change. With the use of 21st-century technologies like robotics, satellite monitoring, miniaturization, and high-definition imaging, scientists are revealing the unseen habits of the oceans' most mysterious animals and mapping remote, inhospitable habitats in unprecedented detail. InUnseen Oceans, visitors will embark on a journey that takes them from the oceans' sunlit surface to inky depths as they discover the latest ocean science and encounter the researchers and technologies powering exploration today.

In Unseen Oceans, visitors will explore a series of circular, media-rich galleries that will showcase a range of marine ecosystems and introduce a new generation of scientists who are using cutting-edge research tools and developing new methods to explore the oceans top to bottom. What amazing acrobatics do blue whales-the largest animals ever known to exist-perform when they feed? (High-tech, pop-off tags on their backs provide the answer.) What's going on in the deep waters surrounding Hawaii? (Hint: Advanced sonar reveal a new island set to emerge... in 100,000 years.) How can we decide where to place marine protected areas? (Tiny floating robots may offer important clues.) Visitors to Unseen Oceans will learn the answers to these exciting questions and explore other novel lines of inquiry that ocean researchers have only recently uncovered.

Exhibition highlights include:

a 180-degree, high-resolution screen where animations of ocean giants including blue whales, giant squid, and great white sharks swim by visitors at true-to-life scales

microscope stations to view live rotifers (a type of zooplankton)

a floor-to-ceiling array of biofluorescent species-showing the diversity of undersea animals that absorb and re-emit light

a virtual ride in a submersible into the shadowy depths and a photo-op station at a full-size model of a Triton sub

an interactive media installation featuring schooling fish that react to visitors' movements a magnetic sand table with a dynamic live projection where young visitors can learn about ocean topography by digging trenches and forming islands

Live marine animals will also be featured, including iridescent, bioluminescent comb jellies as well as seahorses, pipefishes, and chain catsharks whose vivid fluoresence was only recently discovered. Finally, the exhibition will highlight the many urgent threats to the ocean's vital abundance, including climate change, overfishing, and habitat degradation, and the many mysteries that still remain for young ocean scientists to illuminate in the years to come.

Unseen Oceans is curated by John Sparks, curator-in-charge of the Museum's Department of Ichthyology in the Division of Vertebrate Zoology. Dr. Sparks previously curated Creatures of Light: Nature's Bioluminescence, which explored the diversity of organisms that produce light, and co-curated Life at the Limits: Stories of Amazing Species, which focused on organisms with surprising abilities, including species that thrive in extreme habitats. Dr. Sparks' recent research explores the role that bioluminescence and biofluorescence play in the diversification of both shallow-reef and deep-sea fishes.

Unseen Oceans will be open to the public from Monday, March 12, 2018, to Sunday, January 6, 2019. Members will be able to preview the exhibition from Friday, March 9, through Sunday, March 11.

Lead funding for Unseen Oceans and its educational resources is provided by OceanX, an
initiative of the Dalio Foundation.

The American Museum of Natural History gratefully acknowledges the
Richard and Karen LeFrak Exhibition and Education Fund.

Unseen Oceans is generously supported by
Chase Private Client.

AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (AMNH.ORG)
The American Museum of Natural History, founded in 1869, is one of the world's preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. The Museum encompasses 45 permanent exhibition halls, including those in the Rose Center for Earth and Space and the Hayden Planetarium, as well as galleries for temporary exhibitions. It is home to the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial, New York State's official memorial to its 33rd governor and the nation's 26th president, and a tribute to Roosevelt's enduring legacy of conservation. The Museum's five active research divisions and three cross-disciplinary research centers support approximately 200 scientists, whose work draws on a world-class permanent collection of more than 34 million specimens and artifacts, as well as specialized collections for frozen tissue and genomic and astrophysical data, and one of the largest natural history libraries in the world. Through its Richard Gilder Graduate School, it is the only American museum authorized to grant the Ph.D. degree, and, beginning in 2015, the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree, the only such freestanding museum program. Annual visitation has grown to approximately 5 million, and the Museum's exhibitions and Space Shows are seen by millions more in venues on five continents. The Museum's website, mobile apps, and MOOCs (massive open online courses) extend its scientific research and collections, exhibitions, and educational programs to additional audiences around the globe. Visit amnh.org for more information.