We are really getting in the spirit of Halloween at the Aquarium!
To kick off our exciting weekend of Hallowmarine events at both our Baltimore and Washington, DC venues, the National Aquarium dive team carved pumpkins in our Atlantic Coral Reef exhibit. Not only is this a fun activity for our divers (they can get pretty competitive over who’s underwater carving is better), but the fish also really enjoy interacting with our divers while they carve!
Click here to watch today’s underwater pumpkin carving session!
Not only is this a fun activity for our divers (they can get pretty competitive over who’s underwater carving is better), but the fish also really enjoy interacting with our divers while they carve!
This year, we gave our online community on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ the opportunity to watch a live stream of the underwater carving! If you missed it, you can watch the entire entire carving by clicking here!
Stay tuned this week for more exciting posts surrounding our second annual Hallowmarine!
A Blue View is a weekly perspective on the life aquatic, hosted by National Aquarium CEO John Racanelli.
From the smallest plants and animals invisible to the human eye to entire ecosystems, every living thing depends on and is intricately linked by water.
Tune in to 88.1 WYPR every Tuesday at 5:45 p.m. as John brings to the surface important issues and fascinating discoveries making waves in the world today.
The National Aquarium has had a long partnership with turtle conservation network WIDECAST, particularly in Costa Rica, where the leatherback sea turtle comes ashore to nest. This species has been listed as endangered since 1970. Very little is known about the turtles’ migratory behavior, population genetics or dynamics, inherent diseases, or mortality rates.
WIDECAST gathers research through rescue operations and satellite tracking to develop programs to help save this amazing species. As part of our partnership, Aquarium staff conducts training programs for local volunteers on veterinary care and stranded animal rehabilitation. We hope that through awareness and support from the international community, the WIDECAST network can continue to grow!
Between our Baltimore and Washington, DC, venues, more than 17,500 animals representing 900 species call the National Aquarium home. There are constant changes, additions, and more going on behind the scenes that our guests may not notice during their visit. We want to share these fun updates with our community so we’re bringing them to you in our weekly Animal Update posts!
Check our blog every Friday to find out what’s going on… here’s what’s new this week!
Baby Froglets!
We’ve seen a few tricolor poison dart froglets hopping around in our Hidden Life Gallery.
Can you spot the froglet?
The tricolor, or phantasmal, poison dart frog (Epipedobates tricolor) is a small red or brown poison dart frog with blue stripes that is found in the rain forests of the Andean slopes of Ecuador.
Baby tricolor poison dart frog
We haven’t confirmed how many babies there are just yet but we’ll keep you updated! Stop by to see the young froglets in the Hidden Life exhibit, closest to the rotating door headed toward our Atlantic Coral Reef exhibit!
Seastars and ratfish return to DC
One spotted ratfish and four leather sea stars were added back to our Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries exhibit this week.
Spotted Ratfish
This exhibits was upgraded over the summer and is now fitted with an acrylic window, there should be no more condensation during warm weather!
Be sure to check back every Friday to find out what’s happening!
A Blue View is a weekly perspective on the life aquatic, hosted by National Aquarium CEO John Racanelli.
From the smallest plants and animals invisible to the human eye to entire ecosystems, every living thing depends on and is intricately linked by water.
Tune in to 88.1 WYPR every Tuesday at 5:45 p.m. as John brings to the surface important issues and fascinating discoveries making waves in the world today.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, or Clean Water Act, the nation’s law for protecting our most irreplaceable resource.
In 1972, in the midst of a national concern about untreated sewage, industrial and toxic discharges, destruction of wetlands, and contaminated runoff, this principal law was passed to protect the country’s waters. The act set a national goal, “to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters,” with interim goals that all waters be fishable and swimmable where possible.
Arguably, no environmental legislation has had as much of an influence on our daily lives and health. Thanks to the Clean Water Act, huge strides have been made to protect our health and the health of the environment.
Want to help protect your local waterways and manage water supply? Here are some easy tips to help:
We cannot wait for our new exhibit, Blacktip Reef, to open in summer of 2013! This coral-filled exhibit, replicating an Indo-Pacific ocean habitat, will feature 15 exciting species including blacktip reef sharks, reticulated whiptail rays, and ornate wobbegong sharks. It will also be the new home for some of our most beloved animals, including our 400-pound green sea turtle Calypso, and zebra sharks Zeke and Zoe. Guests will be able to experience this lively reef from many vantage points, including a new floor-to-ceiling pop-out viewing window that allows you to virtually step inside the exhibit.
It’s a long journey to opening day. Between animal transports, exhibit demolition, new construction, and habitat fabrication, as well as the acquisition of new animals, we’ll have a lot to update you on leading up to next summer. As we continue to build the future home of Blacktip Reef,stay tuned to learn about new changes here on our WATERblog!
The past few months have been extremely busy for teams all over the Aquarium! Now that Wings in the Water has been drained, we have transitioned into full-force construction of our new exhibit space and necessary upgrades of our life-support unit.
The exhibit space has now been drained and prepped for construction!
To protect our guests and animals from noise, odors and dust associated with construction, we’ve built a lid and temporary walls to cover the entire construction area.
This lid separates our visitors and animals from the work happening down below.
Demolition of parts of the tank have been completed, including the uncovering of the deep dive area that will give guests the opportunity to see more of the new reef. This area mimics reefs in the wild that often have deep pockets, where animals can explore and make their new home!
We’ve removed all of our old acrylic windows from the exhibit space. The construction team is now focused on preparing that area to house our new floor-to-ceiling pop-out viewing window that will give guests the opportunity to step inside the exhibit and come face-to-face with the animals!
An artistic rendering of the floor-to-ceiling pop-out window!
Watch this video to learn more about our recent changes:
