A stingray comes into view, its spotted skin fluttering like wet silk. Then a giant river turtle, clawing its way to the water’s surface. A school of silver-blue fish, each about the size of a human hand, glimmer in filtered sunlight.
They scatter for the fish rising from the sandy bottom — a monstrous creature with a shovel-like snout, armor-bright scales and weighing as much as a linebacker in need of a diet.
“Oh my gosh, that’s a huge fish!” shrieks a child racing toward the curved wall of glass.
No doubt that sort of reaction is what the big-picture folks at Shedd Aquarium were hoping for when they began re-imagining the Amazon Rising exhibit, which reopened Tuesday, after about a year-long makeover. The Amazon project is part of $250 million worth of Shedd renovations, expected to wrap up in 2027.
The improved Amazon Rising — a visitor favorite with its creeper vines, tangles of ropy tree roots, and water levels reflecting both the wet and dry seasons — features bigger tanks, improved lighting and skylights and lots more plants native to the Amazon River basin.
The River Giants tank, the one containing two eight-foot-long, 200-plus pound arapaima, is now about three times larger, giving visitors a better opportunity to see the creature’s massive bulk, as well as a variety of catfish, tambaqui, turtles and other river creatures.
When the arapaima came to Shedd, about 10 years ago, each was just a few inches long.
“This is the showstopper. We are able to exhibit a much wider range of biodiversity, which is really what the story is here. There are so many different species that live in that area, and it’s at risk — from deforestation, other human activities, from the pet trade,” said Sarah Aman, Shedd’s senior exhibit designer.
The electric eel exhibit has been expanded too, allowing the aquarium to exhibit five of the creatures compared with the one they had before.
The anaconda exhibit has also doubled in size.
“To make sure she is front and center and that the guests can see her,” said Andrew Pulver, vice president of animal care.
But the 11-foot-long snake, originally found abandoned in a Cook County Forest Preserve, chose not to make an opening-day appearance Tuesday. The snake is expected to grow another nine feet in length, Pulver said.
The snake’s absence didn’t appear to bother Nolan Scott, 9, who was visiting Shedd from Kentucky, with his parents and younger brother.
“There are some really big fish in this aquarium and a lot of the fish are very colorful,” he said. “The way they decorated this, it’s very realistic and it looks just like their real habitat.”
