This snapper is the only known member of its genus. Because of its bright colors, it is popular with both recreational anglers and scuba divers.

This disk-shaped fish spends its juvenile years in estuaries, before moving out into shallow mangroves, beaches, and harbors as an adult.

The bottlenose's torpedo-like body and powerful tails allow them to speed through the water at more than 20 miles per hour.

Palometas are recognizable by their deep bodies, marked with four narrow bars on the sides, along with traces of a fifth fin nearer the tail.

Nurse sharks are slow-moving bottom-dwellers. They get their name from their ability to suck prey out of crevices and shells with their mouth.

This large fish, nicknamed the silver king, is a voracious predator, feeding on small fish and crustaceans.

This species gets it name from the five black bars along its side, which resemble the isignia of the sergeant major military rank. Adult males can change color to a blueish hue while guarding their nesting sites.

The French grunt is generally covered in bright yellow stripes against a silver background, with their fins being colored in a bright yellow shade.

The rock beauty’s appearance allows it to blend it with the rocks and rubble of the coral reefs where they live. Young specimens are always female and have the capacity to change into males when they get older.

The banded butterflyfish is a carnivore, feeding on reef inhabitants such as tube worms, anemones, corals, and occasionally crustaceans.

A common sight in tropical environments, the green iguana can often be seen basking in the sunlight, a behavior common to many cold-blooded reptiles. They can grow to over 6 feet long and weight more than 11 pounds.

This bright red bird used its curved, slender bill to forage for food in shallow water environments. Like the flamingo, the bird’s bright colors come from the crustaceans in its food.

These fearsome-looking bats get their name from their preferred diet of blood, just like the famous movie monster.

Easily recognized by its characteristic large and colorful beak, the keel-billed toucan used its large bill to reach and tear apart fruit.

Our sloth Xena is one of the world’s slowest mammals. This sloth species uses its long limbs and two-claws to move through the trees.

These birds get their vivid pink color from eating crustaceans. Their long necks and legs are made for wading shallow waters in search of food.

This large angelfish, also known as the black angelfish, is commonly found in shallow warms water of the Caribbean, especially in coral reefs. It feed mainly on sponges.

Highly adaptable, these fish can manipulate their pigmentation to reflect or dim light and camouflage themselves depending on their environment.

This blue-silvery fish is armed with powerful jaws and fang-like teeth, using surprise attacks to overrun its prey.

Also known as the brown shark, this shark gets its name from its preferred hunting ground of sandy shallow coastal waters.

These turtles look similar to green sea turtles, but has a parrot-like beak and a rough saw-like lining around their shell.

The Kemp’s Ridley is the smallest sea turtle species and the most endangered, with a female nesting population of around 1,000.

The green sea turtle gets its name from the greenish hue of its skins. The green sea turtles in Tortuga Cay are Squirt, Crush, and Pickles.

These jellies have a golden brown bell and long, trailing tentacles. Their sting can be irritating to humans but is rarely dangerous.

This cephalopod has an inner shell layer that forms a nearly perfect equiangular spiral, making it a popular symbol in art and mathematics.

Like many other cephalopods, the cuttlefish has the ability to change color, an adaptation it uses for hunting or camouflage.

The Giant Pacific is the largest and longest-living of any octopus species, weighing an average of 100 pounds and measuring 16 feet across. .

These jellies, which can grow up to 45 centimeters in diameter, have 8 stumpy arms which they used to catch plankton. Each of their 8 arms has a tiny mouth at each end, which can transport food to their stomachs.

This freshwater turtle gets its name from the supposed taste of its meat, back when it used to be a popular delicacy

These turtles are native to coastal tidal marshes in the United States. It gets its name from the diamond-shaped patterns on top of its shell.

This semiaquatic turtle, native to the southern United States, can be easily recognized by the bright red stripes around their ears. The name “slider” from their ability to quickly escape danger by sliding off rock and logs and into the water.

Alligators are apex predators in the swamp, feeding on fish, amphibians, reptiles, and just about anything else they can get their jaws around.

This species can be distinguished from the southern stingray by its elongated snout. True to its name, it is found in the western Atlantic Ocean.

This shark is recognizable by its eye ridges and its dark spots. It preys on mollusks and crustaceans, grinding their shells in its powerful jaws.

This shark gets it name from the white-lined black spots behind its pectoral fins, which resembled military epaulettes.

This egg-laying shark gets its name from its primary habitat off the coast of Port Jackson in southern Australia.

These highly-intelligent mammals live around rivers, canals, lakes, marshes, and bays, where they build their lives around water.

Also known as the Texas cichlid, this freshwater species is the only cichlid native to the United States. It can grow over 33 centimeters in length, and males can develop a protrusion known as a nuchal hump on their head.

The sheepshead, recognizable by its broad vertical stripes, gets its name from their mouth shape, which resembles that of a sheep.

These alligators hatched about 6 inches long and weighing a few ounces, but can grow to be as much as 16 feet long and over 1000 pounds

This stingray is common to the Atlantic ocean. Its flat body allows it to conceal itself on the seabed, and a serrated barb containing a mild toxin in its tail can be used for defense.

This small heron species is often seen with its long neck pulled in tight against its body. It inhabits small low-lying wetlands, where they feed actively on small fish, frogs, and invertebrates

The white ibis used its slender curved bill to forage for its preferred food of crayfish, insects, and small fish in the wetlands.

Getting their name from their toad-like appearance, these fish can produce sounds with their swim bladders, which they use as a mating call.

These invertebrates are considered living fossils, having first originated around 450 million years ago. They live in shallow oceans waters on soft and muddy bottoms, feeding on crustaceans and small fish.

Also known as “sea hedgehogs” for their spines, these echinoids have much more widely separated spines than other urchins. Their spines are also not as sharp, with many guests saying they feel like a dull stick.

The most common starfish in the Atlantic, this starfish has five arms can grow 30 cm across or larger. It is usually found on rocky banks, where it feeds on mollusks and other invertebrates.

These truly unique creatures, which can measure almost 6 inches long, are vulnerable in the wild due to coastal growth and pollution. They are monogamous, bonding with a partner for life, where the male gives birth to the offspring.

This large marine fish is distributed across most of the coastal waters of the Atlantic ocean and can be found at depths of around 350 meters. It is a voracious predator, feeding on prawn, shrimps, and cephalopods, among other species.

Named for its red color and its sharp, needle-like teeth, the snapper prefers the bottom of the ocean and can inhabit waters as deep as 300 feet.

These turtles, which can weigh up to 300 pounds or more, are vulnerable in the wild due largely to entanglement in discarded fishing gear.

While it may look fearsome, the sand tiger is a relatively docile and slow-moving shark, with no confirmed record of killing a human.

This tropical bird can be found in forested areas of South America. Wild Flight’s green-winged macaw is named Zeppo.

This ground-dwelling bird is native to Central and South America, where it is used by farmers for pest control. Wild Flight’s seriema is named Nacho.

Also known as the coati, this relative of the raccoon inhabits wooded areas through the Americas. Wild Flight’s coati is named Sonora.

Using it tail and feet, the porcupine can easily climb trees to feed. Wild Flight’s prehensile-tailed porcupine is named Chiquita.

This raptor is commonly known as a grasshopper hawk or locust hawk for its preferred diet of insects. Wild Flight’s Swainson’s hawk is named Cleo.

These African cats have the longest legs relative to their body size of any wild cat. Wild Flight’s serval is named Kimani.

Also known as the unicorn leatherjacket, this fish can be found at depth as deep as 50 meters. They are commonly found around reefs, and feed on invertebrates and algae.

The porkfish is a species of grunt native to the western Atlantic ocean. Porkfish are primarily nocturnal predators, going after prey residing on the ocean floor.

This vibrant fish is found in warmer waters of the Atlantic ocean. In the wild it feed most on sponges, but its diet can also include jellyfish, corals, plankton, and algae.

These rays are found throughout the Atlantic and Caribbean sea, and can grow up to 45 inches in width and weight 50 pounds or more. When threatened it can use a barb containing a toxin in its tail to defend itself.

The parrotfish's large beak used to scrape algae and other organisms from rocks and hard coral.

Commonly called a pufferfish, this species can inflate its body by swallowing air or water, deterring predators from trying to eat it. Its sharp spines offer another line of defense.

Grace arrived in 2007 from Anchorage, Alaska. While unable to fly, she still possesses binocular vision, sharp beaks, and strong talons.

Golden eagles like our Bonnie are among the fastest animals on earth, being able to dive at up to 200 miles per hour when pursuing prey.

Also known as the stumpy-spined cuttlefish, this cephalopod only reaches about 7 centimeters in length. It moves through the water by both flapping its mantle and by “walking” with its tentacles.

Bamboo sharks are oviparous, meaning they lay eggs. Their egg casings are nicknamed “mermaid’s purses” for their unique shape.

These tiny aquatic crustaceans help supplement the diets of many of our other species. Brine shrimp are found worldwide, and get their name from their ability to live in waters of very high salinity.