We're blazing toward the New Year, so it's about time that we look back on the amazing year that was 2013. The Aquarium celebrated some unbelievable moments—some much touted and others quieter. But they're all part of what makes the Aquarium so special.

Today we're continuing to countdown of the 10 most exciting, cutest, noteworthy and/or memorable ways that 2013 is one year that we won't forget. 

8. Jaw-dropping slow-motion video

Technology is always evolving and that means we have more and more impressive ways to share the unbelievable underwater world. This year we had help from underwater photographer Keith Ellenbogen and MIT physicist Allan Adams with tech support from Jason O'Connell at Tech Imaging Services. Remember this?


As we explained in this media release, this jaw-dropping, split second footage was shot at 500 frames per second versus the normal 30 frames for video. It shows how these cunning cephalopods capture their food, with two retractable tentacles snagging a fish and pulling it into the grasp of eight waiting suction cupped arms.

Cuttlefish in its first floor exhibit

Ellenbogen and Adams also pointed their lens at the goosefish, the lionfish and other animals throughout the Aquarium and our off-site holding facility. In fact, these incredible clips also spawned our first television ads in decades, which tout the New Aquarium Experience (more on that later in the series, of course)!

Previously in our Countdown to 2014:
10. The goosefish and her egg veils
  9. Three new IMAX films for the year