Explore the Rainforest | SEA LIFE Brighton Aquarium

SEA LIFE, Rainforest Adventure

Experience what life is like beneath the tropical treetops. Winding through the roots and tree trunks, rainforest rivers are home to a host of weird and wonderful creatures.

In this landscape, food can be plentiful. During the wet season, rivers flood the rainforest floor where fruits, nuts and seeds fall. When the dry season returns some fish are trapped in ever-decreasing, muddy pools without food, with little oxygen and no way of escaping predators.

In the river predators can appear from any direction, above or below the water; Anacondas lurk in the waters red with mud whilst birds of prey and big cats prowl the banks. You've got to be tough to make it in this habitat. Many rainforest creatures are big and toothy but sometimes it's the smallest and most harmless-looking animals which can pack the deadliest punch!

Are you ready for a jungle adventure? Let's go!

There are around 40 species of Piranha and it may surprise you to read that most are vegetarian; Feeding mainly on fruits, nuts and seeds that fall from the trees. The Piranhas you will encounter on your journey through SEA LIFE, are one of the few meat-eating varieties.

But you'll soon discover that this is, for the most part, undeserved and that they are actually rather beautiful! Red-bellied piranha bodies appear to be covered in glitter; These sparkling scales make them hard for predators, such as birds, to spot from the riverbank as they look like the sunlight reflecting off the water's surface. They spend much of their time hovering motionless in the river plants and roots to avoid catching the attention of any hungry Crocs or River Dolphins.

Anacondas are semiaquatic snakes that are typically found in South America
They prefer to live in tropical rivers and swamps mostly in the rainforest. Thriving in the heat and humidity they spend most of their time swimming in murky rivers
The maximum length of an anaconda is 9 metres
The anaconda is a member of the constrictor family, meaning they are not venomous snakes. Instead, constrictors wrap their bodies around prey and squeeze it until it stops breathing!

These beautiful little creatures, native to Central and South America, are like brightly coloured jewels bouncing amongst the foliage.

Don't be fooled though, they are small but deadly. As their name suggests these Frogs secrete toxic poison from their skin. The bright colours on their body act as a warning to potential predators that eating them would be a mistake.

Most pose little threat to humans but the Golden Poison Dart Frog is amongst the most poisonous animals in the world; with enough poison to kill ten to twenty men!

It is not yet fully understood exactly how they produce this deadly poison, but it is suspected that they absorb chemicals from the prey that they eat in order to synthesis the poison.