The Seattle Aquarium has a spectacular new resident: Tandu, a humphead wrasse who just moved into his new home in the Ocean Pavilion’s Reef habitat, joining thousands of tropical fish, sharks, rays and a bowmouth guitarfish.
Tandu’s journey to Seattle is a story of rescue and second chances. He was illegally imported into Hong Kong, where he was confiscated from traffickers and spent about two years at Ocean Park Hong Kong before moving to the Singapore Oceanarium. Because his original source location couldn’t be confirmed, returning him to the wild wasn’t possible — so Seattle became his forever home.
Now Tandu is more than just a star of The Reef: he serves as an ambassador for his endangered species and supports groundbreaking research. The Aquarium is backing the Saving Face project, which uses the unique facial markings of humphead wrasses — as individual as human fingerprints — to detect and prevent illegal trafficking of the species.
You can visit Tandu and the thousands of other fish, invertebrates and marine mammals at the Seattle Aquarium, open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Photo: Seattle Aquarium
