June 3, 2026 | Abbi Duhart | News Editor
May 23, the Oregon Coast Aquarium opened a new temporary exhibit entitled “Amazon Basin: An Adventure for the Senses” that will run through Jan. 2, 2028.
The exhibit will display animals from five different ecosystems, including dense rainforests, flooded forests, rivers, open savannas and misty cloud forests. In total, there are 13 new tanks and tons of new species to explore. “Imagine stepping into a world where neon-blue frogs cling to dripping leaves, piranhas swirl in dark water, and the air smells like rain-soaked earth. For the first time at Oregon Coast Aquarium, you can,” the aquarium said on their website.
Additionally, there will be art in the form of murals and illustrations integrated throughout the exhibit, all designed by Alexander Vidal.
The first zone within the exhibit is the terra firma rainforest. These forests have four distinct layers where diverse species live throughout and typically stay dry year-round. The aquarium will have dart frogs, a rainbow boa and a giant ameiva here.
The second zone is the river and river banks. Rivers within the Amazon carry a majority of the world’s freshwater, and this is the richest zone within the exhibit in terms of species. Piranhas, electric eels, mata mata turtles, orange rays, South American leaffish, cichlids, silver dollars and cardinal tetras will be here.
Looking nothing like the others, instead encompassing vast grasslands, the savanna is the next area to check out. Here, visitors can find Argentine black and white tegus and red-footed tortoises.
Cuvier’s dwarf caimans are the sole species featured in the flooded forest section. When the rainy season comes, these forests are so flooded that most animals climb to the treetops until they can return to the ground, but the caimans remain swimming below.
Finally, broad-footed salamanders can be found in the cloud forest area. Cloud forests are located high in the Andes and have unique species found nowhere else. Mist and condensation is found everywhere here, allowing some like this salamander species to thrive.
Each year, a section of Amazon rainforest twice as big as Los Angeles is destroyed due to mining, burning and cattle ranching, leading to the estimate that the Amazon could be gone by 2060. “The Amazon isn’t a distant, isolated place. It’s an active part of the same Earth system that shapes the weather and climate here in Oregon. By moving vast amounts of moisture through the atmosphere, it helps drive global rainfall patterns, influences temperatures far beyond South America, and supports ecosystems that affect the stability of the planet we all depend on,” the Oregon Coast Aquarium website adds.
To get more information about the new aquarium exhibit or information on things everyone can do to help save Amazon rainforests, visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium website.
Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu
