So there was this running gag among the Star Trek TNG production designers about there being a location on the ship named "Cetacean Ops", showing up in signage that wasn't legible pre-HD and background chatter that wasn't meant to be heard. Lower Decks then formalized this as an actual seawater tank in the middle of the ship with 2 intelligent Beluga whales "working" there. And this is fanservice and it's not TOTALLY clear Lower Decks is canon, but thing is, after Star Trek IV, it makes sense,
