Only two years after it opened full time to the
public, New Bedford’s Ocean Explorium is expanding—and its newest marine
animal residents are about to make a resounding splash >>
Some 20 stingrays and sharks are on their way from Florida—not by sea, but by air.
They’ll be arriving at the Ocean Explorium in downtown New Bedford tomorrow. (Tuesday, June 21)
The animals will make their new home in a large custom-built touch tank.
“We expect this will be our most exciting and popular live exhibit yet,” says shark expert and Ocean Explorium director Mark Smith.
“Visitors to the Explorium will be able to see these extraordinary animals up close, and they’ll be able to touch them, to reach out and stroke them. This will be a rare and wonderful hands-on experience for children and adults alike.”
The rays and sharks will arrive in downtown New Bedford tomorrow, packed in specially constructed boxes equipped with sufficient salt water and oxygen for their long plane journey from Florida. The animals are being supplied by Dynasty Marine, a specialist collector known the world over for their quality, knowledge and sustainable practices.
“These animals are extremely delicate and transporting them requires carefully controlled water quality. Temperature, oxygen and pH levels must be maintained throughout their journey to the Ocean Explorium,” explains Mr. Smith. “Our role as caretakers of these beautiful animals is to ensure they are as healthy as possible, so they will be traveling first class all the way!”
Several different species of rays and sharks will be the stars of the new touch tank at the Explorium, including Cownose Rays, Atlantic Stingraysand White Spotted Bamboo Sharks.
Explorium curator Warren Gibbons says they are gentle species, which will not pose a risk to visitors.
“Despite their reputation, most rays and sharks are actually quite small and docile, and we have chosen species which are gentle by nature and comfortable with being touched,” says Mr. Gibbons.
“Cownose rays, for example, are very social and engaging animals in a touch tank like this. They’re related to eagle and manta rays and have the same familiar winged shape as the large rays. It’s mesmerising to watch them glide through the water.All the rays have had their barbs painlessly clipped so they can be touched safely by our visitors.”
Mr. Gibbons has been working for months with a team of Ocean Explorium staff, a very renaissance Greg Clear, and other volunteers to install the ray and shark tank, which is 18 feet long and holds 3,000 gallons of water.
He’s also been building the tank’s complex water filtration system—a life support system for the rays and sharks—which will be an integral part of the new exhibit.
“Our mission at the Ocean Explorium is education, and we believe it’s important for people to understand that these animals live in a delicately balanced ecosystem, which we need to respect and preserve,” he says.
“It’s an enormous challenge for us to try to replicate that environment here in the Explorium so the animals remain healthy. We’re very excited about showing people how we can do that.”
The new touch tank and life support systems are already up and running and the animals will move in immediately after arriving at the Ocean Explorium tomorrow. An official opening for the tank is scheduled for July 1.