By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
The Newport Aquarium’s newest exhibit Stingray Hideaway: Enter Their World, opens today with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m.
Isaac Hookom, of Loveland, holds his son, Ira, 3, up to get a better look at the stingrays from inside a tube at the Newport Aquarium’s Stingray Hideaway exhibit Thursday (photos by Mark Hansel).
The exhibit allows visitors to get eye-to-eye with two dozen stingrays as they soar through the touch pool. Children and adventurous adults can crawl through a 30-foot tunnel for an underwater look at the stingrays. A special viewing tube allows visitors to pop-up inside the pool as stingrays swim all around them.
Newport Aquarium executive director Eric Rose said there are a lot of stingray touch tanks, but planners came at this exhibit with a different approach.
“We have the tunnel that goes underground and you are able to see the stingray from underneath,” Rose said.” Some of the coolest parts of the stingray are the underside, their mouths and other parts of their bodies, and you can’t see that from above.
There are many different species of stingray and they normally swim in groups, called a fever. The Stingray Hideaway exhibit has cownose stingrays and southern stingrays, as well as several species’ of colorful fish. The 17,000-gallon touch pool is specially designed to allow easy access for children and adults.
Michelle Fry, a Biologist at the Aquarium said the variety of opportunities to view the stingrays should appeal to visitors of all ages.
“The stingrays don’t mind it, and if they ever did, there is a place where they can go and take a break, but they come up and swim right by,” Fry said. “You do a two-finger touch and you get to feel that they are a little bit slimy and a little bit rough. It definitely feels a little different than when you go to our Shark Touch Tank, where the skins a lot more rough.”
Michael and Cooper Olsen, 2, check out the stingrays in the tunnel at the Newport Aquarium Stingray Hideaway exhibit, which opens today. The Olsens were on their way home from Michigan after visiting family in Paducah and decided to spend the day at the Aquarium.
Newport Aquarium customers come from all over the United States. Not surprisingly, a large portion are from this region, but many also come from the surrounding areas of Louisville, Indianapolis, Columbus and other tri-state cities.
Michael and Judy Olsen were on their way home to Michigan with their sons, Cooper, 2, and Conner, 4 months, from visiting relatives in Paducah. They decided to stay in the area overnight to visit the Aquarium and were among those allowed in to the Stingray Hideaway Thursday for a sneak preview.
“I really like the tunnel and so does Cooper and the fact that you can touch the stingrays is really cool, although I’m afraid to do it,” Judy Olsen said. “We appreciate that they are letting us see it like this. It’s really a very nice aquarium. We have a small one near us, but it’s nothing like this.”
Fry said that while the species’ of stingray in the exhibit are not threatened in the wild, one reason for the exhibit is to allow guests to make a personal connection and want to conserve them in the future.
“Stingrays are actually very majestic creatures, and they very fun,” Fry said. “They don’t have teeth but what they do have is a plate that they used to crunch down their food. They eat mussels and clams and shrimp and they have to crush through those shells to get through to the meat.”
A view from the Stingray Hideaway exhibit tunnel at the Newport Aquarium.
The barbs on stingrays are just like fingernails, and Fry said they have been trimmed down to a safe level, so there is no danger to patrons.
Rose began his career 30 years ago at SeaWorld in Orlando and has been with Newport Aquarium 2005 He said it sounds like a cliche, but the thing that keeps him here is the family atmosphere among the employees.
“We are always doing new things and that keeps it interesting,” Rose said. “Everybody kind of wants the same thing, a fun exciting meaningful place to spend a couple of hours and we hope to provide that.”
One of the biggest challenges for any attraction is the ability to attract new visitors and bring repeat customers back in again and new exhibits are a great way to do that.
“We have a formalized process at the aquarium for developing new experiences or guests. It’s never haphazard or random,” Rose said.
Newport Aquarium executive director Eric Rose said the staff is always working on new exhibits to attract visitors.
“At any time, we are working on three-to-four new experiences, large or small – Stingray Hideaway is quite a large one. We have a two- to three-year pipeline to keep things engaging for not only visitors, but the staff as well.”
Last year, the Aquarium unveiled the seahorse exhibit, which remains popular but the Shark Bridge, which opened that in 2015 just experienced its two-millionth visitor crossing, is still the big draw.
“That gave us a completely new attraction that allows able-bodied individuals to walk a rope bridge across the top of the shark tank and it is incredibly popular,” Rose said. “All of our animals here are popular in one way or another, but there is no question that sharks rule.”
Stingray Hideaway and all of the Newport Aquarium exhibits are included in the price of admission. For more information on Stingray Hideaway or other Newport Aquarium attractions, click here .
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com
