Shark Saturday (Part Four: Katherine Goes to the National Aquarium)
Or a story of two (three?) aquaria.
Hi Bestie!!
How are you feeling after the holiday? I’m feeling weird! But I saw sharks on Wednesday which evens out everything else. That's how it works, right?
My sister took me to the National Aquarium on her family pass. (You may have heard of it by way of the back of the Dogfish Head Seaquench Ale can. The brewery and aquarium have a partnership.)
The National Aquarium was developed in the mid-1970s as part of a scheme to overhaul the Baltimore Harbor. (Not that you asked, but I think the Harbor is annoying because traffic is terrible and it’s filled with tourists. People on Facebook think it’s ugly–fair, it’s definitely brutalist–and filled with crime. They probably need to cool it.) In 1979–before it opened in 1981–Congress designated it the National Aquarium. (It did not receive federal funds for construction.)
There was a National Aquarium in Washington, DC at the time. It was unaffiliated with the National Aquarium in Baltimore and for several years we had two National Aquaria (in name); in 2003 they signed an agreement to work together to “strengthen the animal collection and educational impact of the aquarium.” The DC aquarium closed in 2013 when the Herbert C. Hoover building was renovated; the collections were moved to Baltimore. It had been the longest continuously running aquarium in the United States.
The Belle Isle Aquarium, which is incredible, and free, had been the longest-running aquarium when it closed in 2005, having opened in 1905! Detroit citizens voted to reopen it that year, but it remained closed until 2012 and is operated by a non-profit conservation group. If you go to Detroit, you should go to Belle Isle and see its aquarium. (For pizza I recommend Green Lantern.)
Aquaria! Very cool when you leave Coney Island. (Respectfully.)
The aquarium has 17,000 specimens and 750 species. Six of those specimens are the dolphin pod. Five of the dolphins were born at the aquarium, and one was born at another institution. When you visit the dolphins in the viewing area you can hear the pod talk to each other and I was very into that.
My favorite exhibit in the aquarium is the blacktip reef, which you see when you come in. (Click that link it has a 24-hour live stream!!!) You can see the blacktip reef shark here, but you can also see a ton of fish and rays, which I may have enjoyed more. You can see this exhibit from the opposite side through the shark exhibit, which is my other favorite part. After you’ve made your way through viewing tanks and the rainforest (we saw some very cool birds there!) you’re at the top of a winding ramp with views of a thirteen-foot tank with a replicated reef. The lighting is dim and the aquarium plays ambient music. We managed to get my nephew to sit on the ground with us and watch the fish for a while before we made our way to the sharks in a separate tank beneath–and the other side of the blacktip reef.
My nephew was very good and finding an enormous fish when it swam past us (I named it Barry) and the only shark in an exhibit. My nephew is very supportive, 100/10 would recommend. (He also remembers where you've parked!)
The last time I was at the National Aquarium was in 2009 when it opened its permanent jellyfish exhibit. (“Brainless and beautiful,” me too, jellyfish.) I took my mom when it opened and privately lost my mind. Jellyfish are stunning! (They are also excellent bioindicators.)
My favorite species are the very goth blue blubber jellyfish which range in color from white to dark purple. The exhibit has a live cam in this tank, and there’s a highlight reel available, too. It’s like an oceanic yule log. (I will be casting this to my TV at home.)
(I did have “Seventy Times Seven” in my head the whole time, thanks for asking.)
I learned that sea turtles can eat several thousand jellyfish every day; the leatherback sea turtle is a gelatinivore, eating only jellyfish and sea squirts. Turtles can’t tell the difference between plastic bags and jellyfish, which is why we’re all using paper straws; now there are too few turtles and too many jellyfish in the ocean. (I touched a jellyfish at an interactive exhibit, after some trepidation, because I grew up in a never-touch-a-jellyfish-on-the-shore family. A benefit to swimming with the polar bears this winter will be a lack of jellyfish!)
That’s not a lot to say about sharks. Most of the sharks I saw, thought, “That looks like it was pulled out of the Rockaways.” Always good to leave home to be reminded that the world does not revolve around home, I guess.
Also of note (and not a shark) is an enormous skeleton suspended over the blacktip reef. The fin whale skeleton has been there since the aquarium opened, its name is Omega. Omega was caught near Cape Cod in 1883 (I swore the plaque said it was from the Chesapeake area). The bones were rendered and stored for almost 100 years in Rochester; Omega is on permanent loan from a museum in Albany. Finback whales are endangered. They are the second longest species of whale! Occasionally they turn up in New York and New Jersey.
Sharks don’t have skeletons. What we know about sharks is limited to their jaws and fossils. The aquarium has this very cool megalodon…mouth.
I had what I hope is a small misunderstanding while half-assing this last night and said, “It’s always Shark Saturday in my heart,” and that’s true. Thanks for showing up for the fishy Saturday in the author's cardiovascular system.
Dribs and Drabs
I commandeered my mom’s copy of Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal and now I am furtively googling about supper clubs, studying postcards and old photographs. I need a slice of pie and a gin martini with a twist.
Speaking of home, this Reddit post amused me. (From the comments: “Walkersville isn’t that big.”)
Always your friend,
Katherine
Sources (MLA 8)
“Atlantic Coral Reef.” National Aquarium, 24 Nov. 2023, aqua.org/explore/exhibits/atlantic-coral-reef. Accessed 25 Nov. 2023.
“Blacktip Reef.” National Aquarium, 24 Nov. 2023, aqua.org/explore/exhibits/blacktip-reef. Accessed 25 Nov. 2023.
“Friends of Belle Isle Aquarium Aquarium Archive.” Belleisleaquarium.com, belleisleaquarium.com. Accessed 25 Nov. 2023.
“Green Lantern Pizza | Pizza Restaurant in Metro Detroit.” Green Lantern Pizza, greenlanternpizza.com. Accessed 25 Nov. 2023.
“Highlights - Jellies Live Cam.” Www.youtube.com, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugJG8zrcoAU. Accessed 25 Nov. 2023.
“National Aquarium (Baltimore).” Wikipedia, 4 Feb. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Aquarium_(Baltimore).
“National Aquarium - Baltimore, MD.” National Aquarium, 2018, aqua.org.
“National Aquarium - Baltimore, MD.” Aqua.org, 6 Nov. 2020, aqua.org/explore/animals/blacktip-reef-shark.
“National Aquarium and Dogfish Head Partner for Launch of SeaQuench Ale.” National Aquarium, 25 July 2016, aqua.org/contact-us/newsroom/press-releases/2016-07-25-national-aquarium-and-dogfish-head-partner-for-launch-of-seaquench-ale. Accessed 25 Nov. 2023.
“Overview & History — National Aquarium Newsroom.” Web.archive.org, 6 June 2012, web.archive.org/web/20120606153124/news.aqua.org/fact-sheets/overview-history. Accessed 25 Nov. 2023.
“SeaQuench Ale.” Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales | off Centered Stuff for off Centered People, 19 May 2016, www.dogfish.com/brewery/beer/seaquench-ale. Accessed 25 Nov. 2023.
Snider, Mike. “This Beer Hydrates You. No, Really, It Does.” USA TODAY, www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2017/07/03/beer-hydrates-you-no-really-does/441629001.
“Supper Club.” Wikipedia, 11 Oct. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supper_club. Accessed 25 Nov. 2023.
thatlilfirework. Smelly Walkersville Areas. 23 Nov. 2023, www.reddit.com/r/frederickmd/comments/182130b/smelly_walkersville_areas. Accessed 25 Nov. 2023.
“The Skinny on That Skeleton.” National Aquarium, 7 Aug. 2020, aqua.org/stories/2020-08-07-the-skinny-on-that-skeleton. Accessed 25 Nov. 2023.
“Watch: Sea Turtle Snacks on Jellyfish Tentacles.” Animals, 27 June 2017, www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/sea-turtle-eats-jellyfish-video-ecology-marine-spd.
World wildlife fund. “What Do Sea Turtles Eat? Unfortunately, Plastic Bags.” World Wildlife Fund, World Wildlife Fund, 2019, www.worldwildlife.org/stories/what-do-sea-turtles-eat-unfortunately-plastic-bags.