
DATE: Sunday, November 9, 1997              TAG: 9711040207

SECTION: CAROLINA COAST          PAGE: 6    EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: COVER STORY 

SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: ROANOKE ISLAND                    LENGTH:  171 lines

WONDERS OF THE WATER NORTH CAROLINA AQUARIUM SHOWS CREATURES FROM SEA AND SOUNDS

TRANSLUCENT AND THIN, rimmed by rows of white suction cups, one long arm tests the waters before the octopus crawls out of its cave. Soon, all eight tentacle-like limbs are floating in front of fluorescent lights. Two beady black eyes scan the glass window where wide-eyed children watch in amazement from the other side.

A relative newcomer to the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island, this creepy creature was caught by fishermen in August and donated to the state-supported facility. Octopod usually are milky gray in color and seem to smile behind the sack of organs that protrudes from their face, where most people's noses are. But when they get mad, these softball-sized sea mollusks turn blood red - and sometimes shoot ink at attackers.

In the tiny tank next door, two sea nettles dip and bob almost in unison. Their mushroom-shaped heads are clear and coffee colored. Dozens of linguine-like tentacles drip from their bulbous underbellies.

``There are eight types of jellyfish in North Carolina. These are the ones that sting you,'' aquarium curator Frank Hudgins said last week, nodding at the nettles. ``Those tentacles really are long strips of little animals that gather food for the jelly. They're what sting you. And they can live a little while off of the host animal, so if you get tangled up in them in the ocean - even if there's not a jelly in sight - look out.''

From snapping turtles to lemon sharks, alligators to moray eels, more than 50 species of animals live at the aquarium. All are native to the sounds and sea surrounding the Outer Banks.

And although even people who live on these barrier islands all their lives may never get to see them in the wild, an hour-long visit to the fishy facility gives visitors a chance to watch each creature - and learn a lot about their watery worlds.

``A lot of people don't realize how beautiful jellyfish are until they get to see them up close - with a piece of glass protecting them from the creatures,'' said Terri Hathaway, who coordinates educational programs at the aquarium. ``This is a great time of year to be here because it's so much less crowded than during the summer. You can see more than just the backs of people's heads at the tanks.''

Built 21 years ago near the Dare County airport, on the north end of Roanoke Island, the aquarium contains 34,000 square feet of space and exhibits on everything from sportfishing to shells. It's not as impressively overwhelming as the National Aquarium at Baltimore. But interactive displays and attention to details about the area make it a place people of all ages will enjoy.

Ed Harris, a 52-year-old vacationer from Scranton, Pa., was seated on a wooden stump in front of a computer screen in the sportfishing display last week. Busily scribbling notes into a three-ringed binder, he said that it was his third trip to the aquarium in as many days. The colorful ``how-to-catch-em'' program, he said, was providing much needed advice about snagging bluefish, cobia and even offshore tuna.

``Just look at all this information. Holy mackerel!'' he said, scrolling through more than a dozen species of fish that computer audiences are invited to click on. ``You get the size limits, seasons, what bait to buy, secrets on catching 'em - even how to cook 'em.

``We've been coming to the Outer Banks for five years now. And my wife and I make sure we get to the aquarium each time,'' Harris said. ``I love it here. It's great being able to see what the fish really look like swimming in the water. And we always learn a lot by reading the ID cards on top of the tanks.''

LaTrone Brockett, an 11-year-old from Elizabeth City, seemed to be enjoying the hands-on experiences. He was hovering over the U-shaped touch tank where people can pet horseshoe crabs, hold scotch bonnet shells and sift sand through their fingers.

``I like getting the feel of those horseshoe crabs. You can't really grab them like this in the ocean,'' Brockett said, splashing in the saltwater. ``I learned they're not as scary as they look. They don't even bite when you put your fingers in their faces.''

Aquarium Director David Griffin said it takes about an hour to tour all the displays. But Brockett and his classmates had already spent two hours at the attraction - and weren't anywhere near ready to go. Even after their teacher shooed them outdoors, they crowded around her, clamoring to walk along one of the soundfront nature trails surrounding the aquarium or spend a few minutes digging in the fossil pit for coral and sharks' teeth.

``I've never seen so many fish in one day before - probably not so many in my whole life put together,'' said Katie Parker, one of Brockett's classmates at Weeksville Elementary. ``I liked looking at those eels. But I think the alligators were my favorites.''

Tanks at the aquarium range from about the size of tabletop TVs to a 10,000-gallon shark display that stands 6-feet tall and 16-feet wide - encompassing an entire wall.

Officials held a ground breaking ceremony Nov. 1 to kick off an $11.5 million expansion that will double the facility's size. When work is done in 1999, the aquarium's centerpiece will be a 200,000-gallon saltwater tank featuring shark, barracuda and a replica of a Civil War shipwreck.

Already, about 250,000 people visit the Roanoke Island aquarium each year. When the addition is complete, Griffin said he expects those numbers to soar. The facility will remain open year-round throughout construction.

``We try to put new exhibits in at least once a year now,'' said Joe Malat, who dreams up many of the displays at the aquarium and has worked there since 1988. ``That way, when people come back, there's always something different to see. But when all this expansion work is done, everything will be more progressive, interactive and impressive.''

Cape Hatteras marks the dividing line for many aquatic species. So visitors to the area - and aquarium - see tropical as well as northern fish. Hudgins himself catches some of them from a small boat he maneuvers out of Oregon Inlet.

``This grouper was about the size of my little finger when I caught it off Ocracoke about seven years ago,'' Hudgins said, standing in front of a huge, fleshy gray fish about as long and thick as his torso. ``Now, it weighs more than 12 pounds. I've watched it grow up.''

Spiny lobsters, with two-foot striped antenna, crawl around crushed rocks on the bottom of one tank, looking like live sticker bushes. Schools of several species of small jacks swim around a 3,000-gallon tank nearby, diving under one another and scooting past the wide window. High hats, with black and white striped fins protruding from their little heads, vie for space with porkfish and princess parrot fish - whose razor sharp molars poke up from thick underlips in a tank nearby.

Purple-mouthed moray eels hide in clay pipes, poking their flat heads out of one end and their thick tails from the other. Tarpons glide over eastern oysters sunk deep in their craggy shells. And oyster toad fish - which Hudgins calls ``the proverbial sea monsters'' - slither their slimy, scaly bodies around, blowing bubbles at fascinated observers.

Aquarium employees feed many of the animals daily. And visitors who get to glimpse that interaction are treated to some unusual activity. The 55-pound snapping turtle who lives in the tank across from the ticket-taker's desk, for example, gobbled a hand-sized spot fish speared on a wooden stick in just one gulp.

``A lot of people who come here from places that don't have a sea coast have only experienced aquatic life through television,'' aquarium spokeswoman Deborah Christner said as the turtle gulped his lunch and stretched his long neck to the water's surface, looking for more. ``This is a magical place for them. They can see the creatures up close, observe them for as long as they like, and actually put their hands in saltwater to touch some of the species.

``The staff here love to teach people about all of our animals. And we're always are on hand to conduct programs and answer questions,'' Christner said. ``Even the most commonplace creatures like whelks and turtles become fascinating when you learn little things about them.''

Alligators, eels, sharks and turtles are among the aquarium's most popular animals, Hathaway said. And the touch tank usually has the longest line. ``But that octopus has been drawing crowds ever since he's been here,'' she said.

``When he decides to show himself - and not just wave his arms out of the cave - it's quite a sight.'' ILLUSTRATION: All photos including color cover by DREW WILSON

ON THE COVER

Staff photographer Drew Wilson captures the octopus coming out of

its cave at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island.

A mature moray eel, right, lethargically hovers as a pair of younger

eels augers in unison in a tank at the North Carolina Aquarium on

Roanoke Island.

ABOVE: This jellyfish in a tank at the aquarium is one of eight

types found in North Carolina waters.

BELOW: Pompano are among the more than 50 species of animals that

live at the aquarium.

Graphic

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