Saturday, December 31, 2016 by

2016 has been quite a year for the New England Aquarium. Our Tentacles Take Hold program has captured the imagination of thousands of visitors with amazing facts about octopuses, cuttlefish, jellies, and nautilus. You may have seen some of those animals around town in our colorful ads! We also launched a new website, which makes it easier than ever for visitors to access handy information for planning their visit or learn more about the animals on our blogs and check educational opportunities at the Aquarium. We even made waves beyond Central Wharf. Here’s a look at some of the major events from the past year:

  1. The New England Aquarium launched the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life
  2. President Obama designates Northeast Coral Canyons and Seamounts a national monument
  3. The Olympic Coast exhibit debuted with its brand new giant Pacific octopus
  4. The Blueway proposed as vital link from city and Greenway to harbor (via Boston Globe)

In addition, we had a lot of fun with our online communities! We looked back to see what you guys liked the most and below are some of the most popular posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

giant Pacific octopus

Popular on Facebook

So you guys really like the videos we post on Facebook! The majority of our most popular posts on this social platform were videos. Take some quick clicks around to see how the octopus, cuttlefish, and, of course, Myrtle, lit up the likes on Facebook.

  1. Sy the giant Pacific octopus says hi
  2. Tiny baby cuttlefish have tiny feasts
  3. When the high tide and super moon collide
  4. Release day is what rescuing sea turtles is all about
  5. Wake up! It's lunch time in the electric eel exhibit
  6. One of the giant Pacific octopus explores her new home
  7. Myrtle and her sleep face
  8. Common cuttlefish at its cutest
  9. Reggae the harbor seal celebrated his 23rd birthday
snoozing sea lion snout

Well-Loved on Instagram

We’ve seen our Instagram community grow tremendously this year. Must be all the cute pictures of sea lions and sea turtles and fluffy penguin chicks. Check out some of our most loved pictures below!

  1. When Sierra's sleepy sea lion snout was too much cute
  2. When Myrtle photobombed a wedding picture
  3. When Sy the octopus came to say hello
  4. When we rescued the first cold-stunned sea turtle of the season
  5. When the baby red-bellied cooters arrived for the winter
  6. When we interrupted Ursula the fur seal's nap
  7. When a turban snail grabbed a quick snack in timelapse
  8. When a cownose ray smiled for the camera
  9. When the little blue penguin chicks were covered in fluff
  10. When a harbor seal and a labrador had a stare down
octo

Top Tweets

Our twitter-sphere was full of animal pictures and blog posts and fun updates from our visitors. Here are some of our posts that had the most legs and likes!

  1. Lots of sea turtles in the rehab hospital (timelapse video)
  2. A sign of sea level rise to come?
  3. The red octopus with a case of the Mondays
  4. That time a Peregrine falcon visited us
  5. The octopus approved of the new decorations outside her exhibit
  6. You wanna watch some crazy cuttlefish video?
  7. Naptime for the loggerheads in the GOT
  8. Jump! Little blue penguins are the world's smallest species of penguin (gif)

Thank you to everyone who joined us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and on our blogs. We look forward to sharing more with you in the New Year!