Aquarium day

"I should bring my son here," James mused. I nodded in approval - every kid loves a good aquarium. As James and I waited for our host at the entrance to the New England Aquarium in Boston, we were surrounded by children. One group of school-age kids wore matching tie-dye. A teacher's shirt declared in bold letters "Second grade is magic!" The high-pitched squeals of delighted children were the only sounds louder than the din of running water. 

Age aside, I fit right in with the young students. I had purposefully selected a dress with colorful nudibranchs on it for my day at the aquarium. While James and I waited, I practically bounced with excitement for our behind-the scenes tour. Every marine biologist is just a grown-up kid in an aquarium. 

Summer, James, and me in front of the live coral tank at 
New England Aquarium. 

Our host, Summer, arrived and shook our hands. Summer is a Senior Aquarist whose work involves exhibit development, partnership building, and education. She approached me after my presentation at Boston Sea Rovers to ask if we could collaborate. Over the past several years, Summer has worked to bring live corals to the New England Aquarium's exhibits. She's successfully grown healthy coral populations in captivity, including an impressive diversity of both Caribbean and Indo-Pacific species. Now, Summer is eager for those corals to be utilized in research.  

Summer led us into the main gallery, where a large tank of tropical corals glowed in the darkened hall. She pointed out key species in the tank that James and I might want to work with - Acropora, Porites, Pocillopora. The vibrant colors of the corals in the tank were almost overwhelming. Under black light, the corals fluoresced in neon hues, far different than I was used to seeing on reefs. Summer pointed out a bright blue coral, which was identified as Porites in the aquarium's records, but Porites is never blue. We had a debate about its true identity, while parents, teachers, and young children navigated around us to get a view of the tank. Eventually, James offered to sequence the coral's DNA, and we all agreed that was the real solution! 

A partnership between New England Aquarium and WHOI could be a win-win. The advanced environmental control systems at the aquarium will allow us to run precise, controlled experiments. The results of our research could help aquarium staff propagate corals and grow large, healthy populations. In fact, by the end of our visit, James and I had decided to use the aquarium's coral facilities for our research in an upcoming proposal, due this summer. 

Even though our focus was the coral tank, Summer gave us a comprehensive aquarium tour, including both front and back of the house. The behind-the-scenes facilities were larger and better-equipped for research than I expected. And if I had to describe the public displays in a word, it would be "accurate." In the Caribbean-Atlantic gallery, I felt like I was back diving in Bonaire. The New England displays exactly reflected the species I see on local dives. When we entered the Pacific Northwest gallery, I was transported back to the Oregon coast. 

We had an amazing day at the New England Aquarium. Now all we need is a funded proposal!