Since the article has become somewhat out of date, here is the latest information about it. You will find the original story just below this update.

Release: Immediate
Contacts: Bob Roush: 910/458-8257 Ext 211
Date: January 1, 2006
Donna Moffitt: 910/458-8257 Ext 201
www.ncaquariums.com

North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher

Admission Policy and Fees

The aquarium is open year-round, 362 days per year, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The aquarium is CLOSED on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Years Day.

Aquarium admission is:
� $8 for adults
� $7 for seniors (age 62 and over)
� $6 for ages 6 to 17.
� Children under age 6, Aquarium Society members and registered North Carolina school groups are admitted free at all three aquariums.

Group discounts: A 15 percent discount is offered for each person in a group of 10 or more if ONE person handles payment for the group. Fees with this discount: $6.80 for adults; $5.95 for seniors; $5.10 for ages 6-17.

Free days: Two admission-free days are scheduled each year. They are Veterans' Day, and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

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For details, contact Bob Roush or Donna Moffitt at (910) 458-8257. For complete information and program schedules, visit: www.ncaquariums.com.

Exotic Aquatics -- "Life on Planet Ocean"

A new gallery of exhibits, scheduled to open in November 2005 at the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher, will focus for the first time on exotic species – life not normally found in the state's waters. The new collection marks a major excursion from the facility's 29-year tradition of showcasing only those aquatic life forms found in North Carolina's freshwater, coastal and open ocean habitats.

The gallery's four spectacular exhibits will include fishes, reptiles and mollusks from the far reaches of our planet. Visitors will discover venomous sea snakes from the tropical Pacific, visible from all sides of their 1,000-gallon cylinder; fluorescent cuttlefish from the Red Sea or the Mediterranean, flashing against the dark background of their special tank; grotesquely beautiful Indo-Pacific lionfish and native scorpionfish, fluttering in their rocky lair; and more than a dozen colorful reef fishes of the Pacific coral atolls – the green-bird wrasse, the fire dartfish, the percula clown and more – all browsing for morsels within their hard-coral habitat.

Interpretive technologies new to the North Carolina Aquariums well help visitors learn about the gallery's many strange and interesting species. A flat?panel liquid-crystal display at each exhibit will provide facts and photo IDs to illuminate the featured animals. Screen content, controlled though an unseen computer, can be updated often to add variety to the visitor's experience.

Cuttlefish

Cuttlefish are mollusks – relatives of snails, clams and oysters – but are more closely related to their intelligent cephalopod cousins, octopus and squid. Like them, they shoot ink to foil enemies and prey, and they employ a remarkable ability to rapidly change their skin colors in a variety of patterns. This "fluorescent flashing" enables them to blend with their surroundings, to warn enemies, to lure a mate, or to mesmerize their intended prey.

The Exotic Aquatics Cuttlefish exhibit will contain individuals of either the European cuttlefish, sepia officinalis, which prefers gravel bottoms and often hides under ledges, or the pharaoh cuttlefish, Sepia pharaonis, which prowls open waters above the bottom. Though both are found worldwide, the European cuttlefish is especially prevalent in the Mediterranean, and the pharaoh more common in the Red Sea and Indo?Pacific.

To best exhibit cuttlefish, we have designed a 600-gallon pedestal tank with a black background. The exhibit extends seven feet from the wall, providing visual access from a number of angles. Visitors will find it easy to witness the astounding changes of skin coloration that these creatures use for survival.

Sea Snakes

Sea snakes, highly venomous relatives of cobras and coral snakes, are found in great numbers in the tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, from East Africa to Australia and as far west as Central America.

Though most of the 50 or so known species live their entire lives in the water, one family, the sea kraits, crawls onto land to lay eggs. The Aquarium's Exotic Aquatics gallery will contain 10 to 12 individuals representing two species of these land-venturing sea snakes. They will be displayed in a habitat modeled after the mangrove swamps of New Guinea or Sri Lanka.

This exhibit's free-standing acrylic cylinder, taking its place as the gallery's centerpiece, will stand seven feet high and contain 1,000 gallons of salt water. Its 360-degree access will allow excellent views of the snakes as they move among the simulated roots of a mangrove forest.

Lionfish

Lionfish are members of a family known for inflicting venom by means of specialized spines. Several lionfish, Pterois volitans, and their close relatives, spotted scorpionfish, scorpaena plumieri, will be housed in a special exhibit within the Exotic Aquatics ensemble.

Creatures of the Indo-Pacific seas, lionfish were first seen in North Carolina waters in the summer of 2000 by scuba divers exploring offshore wrecks. Since then, their numbers have increased dramatically; they are now considered an invasive species that could threaten the survival of native fishes, including many of economic importance to our fisheries. Scorpionfish, common in the Atlantic, are found from Massachusetts to Brazil.

The wall-mounted, 550-gallon exhibit will help visitors learn the similarities and differences between the two species, and will present theories as to how the lionfish may have been introduced and why it has thrived.

Pacific Reef

A wall-mounted exhibit of 550 gallons will house at least a dozen species of fishes that share the Pacific-atoll coral reef habitat. Many will be familiar to visitors who have seen the movie "Finding Nemo."

The collection of fancifully colorful reef-feeders will include clownfish, angelfish, tangs, wrasses, butterflyfish, cardinalfish, and many more. The exhibit's corals, sponges and other examples of reef-habitat "life" are to be replicated by professional designers, with the assistance of Aquarium staff.

Like the other exhibits in the Exotic Aquatics gallery, the Pacific Reef will include interpretive panels and video monitors to aid visitors in learning about the animals and their ecosystem.

EXPERIENCE THE NEW NORTH CAROLINA AQUARIUM AT FORT FISHER

The Fort Fisher Aquarium:
Photo courtesy of the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher

Each month since it recently reopened with the theme "Waters of the Cape Fear," thousands of visitors have entered the doors of the new 84,000-square-foot North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. After more than two years of expansion and renovation, the new state-of-the-art aquarium is triple its former size and boasts a number of fascinating new exhibits.

Cape Fear Shoals exhibit w/diver during filming of Dawson's Creek:
The episode of Dawson's Creek that was filmed in the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher airs Wed. Jan. 15, 2003 at 8p.m
Photo by Bob Roush.
Courtesy of the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher .

Unlike other aquatic attractions, the new North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher celebrates the broad spectrum of plant and animal life found in and around the Cape Fear River. Visitors journey from freshwater rivers and swamps to reefs and the open ocean. The Aquarium's all-new focal point, "Cape Fear Shoals," is a 235,000-gallon tank with 50 different species, including sharks, lobsters, moray eels, sea turtles, and a variety of colorful reef and ocean fishes. The multiple windows of this spectacular 24-foot-deep aquarium offer splendid views of nearly 500 saltwater creatures.

Another major exhibit is the new 22,000-square-foot Cape Fear Conservatory, a half-acre glass-covered atrium dedicated to freshwater plants and animals. This area interprets the region's ponds and waterfalls, trees and ferns, fishes and turtles, aquatic snakes, carnivorous plants, alligators and dragonflies--all part of the freshwater wonderland of the Cape Fear River and its watershed.

Other exhibits with names like "Masonboro Inlet Jetty," "Raven Rock," "Hidden Hunters," "Coastal Waters," "Roan Island," "Carolina Bays" and the "Alligator Exhibit at Town Creek" invite visitors to further explore the waters of the Cape Fear. There's also an interactive touch pool with sea-stars, horseshoe crabs and shoreline creatures that is sure to thrill all who enter the doors of the new N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher.

The sand tiger, one of many exhibits at the aquarium.
Photo credit: Daryl Law;
Courtesy of the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher.

"It is with great pleasure that we announce the re-opening of one of the region's top attractions, the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher," states Judith Grizzel, president/CEO of the Cape Fear Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau. "We welcome everyone to come experience our new state-of-the art Aquarium and to enjoy the many natural and historic treasures of North Carolina's Cape Fear Coast."

Want to go? Follow US Highway 421 South to Historic Wilmington and NC's Cape Fear Coast. Once you cross the bridge over to Carolina Beach, follow the highway markers to the N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher located at 900 Loggerhead Road in Kure Beach, North Carolina. The Aquarium is open 9am-5pm daily. Admission fees are $6/adults; $5/seniors and active military; $4/ages 6-17. For more information call 910-458-8257 or 800-832-3474, or visit website: www.aquariums.state.nc.us/ff/index.htm

For a free Visitors Guide and Accommodations Guide for Historic Wilmington & NC's Cape Fear Coast, please call the Visitors Bureau at 1-800-222-4757 or visit website www.cape-fear.nc.us