Discovery Center holds grand opening of aquarium

According to Savanna Hastings, 11, the skin of an Atlantic sturgeon feels a lot like sandpaper.

Kayla Robertson, 14, had a different opinion.

"I think it's more like leather," Robertson, a Salisbury resident, said.

However, both girls agreed that they were not afraid to put their hand into the shallow tank holding three small sturgeon at the Delmarva Discovery Center on Saturday.

"I've touched a stingray, and I was more afraid of them than a sturgeon," Robertson said. "Its nose reminds me of a mole."

Three of the prehistoric-looking fish have taken up residence at the Delmarva Discovery Center, causing children and adults to linger as they watch the animals float around the now-completed aquarium.

"I call them Gilligan, Skipper and Mr. Two Whiskers," Jennifer Rafter, aquarist for the center, said of the three 2-year-old, foot-long Atlantic sturgeon that call the tank home. "But that's just me. Maybe we will let the public give them real names."

The fish were on display Saturday as the center celebrated the grand opening of the 6,000-gallon aquarium, which features animals native to the Pocomoke River. The tank, which is set to 65 degrees to mimic the river, currently features the sturgeon, longnose gar, crappie, white perch and baby bluegill. A diamondback terrapin named Scorchy -- after the late local TV personality Scorchy Tawes -- is also known to make appearances.

"The Pocomoke River isn't this clear," Rafter told a crowd of about 30 children and adults gathered around the viewing window. "But if we made the aquarium look like the Pocomoke River, you wouldn't be able to see the fish."

What's more, sturgeon are very now very rare in the river. The animals, which can grow up to 15 feet and live for decades, were once common in the area, using the fresh and brackish waters to breed and mature before spending their lives in the ocean.

"They were plentiful until the late 1800s when they were overfished for their caviar," Rafter said.

The three sturgeon in the aquarium are on loan from Maryland Department of Natural Resources hatcheries, which provided the additional animals to stock the touch tank as well.

"Most kids don't mind touching them," said Chuck Stence of the DNR restoration program, affectionately referring to the fish as charismatic megafauna.

Most importantly, while the sturgeon eat fish and other animals, they don't bite.

That's good for Rafter, who frequently gets into the tank to clean or feed the fish. On Saturday, visitors watched as she held out pieces of scallop and silverside for the sturgeon.

"It was really cool," said Nicholas Drechsler, 10, adding that it was the best part of his visit to the center. "It was cool that she fed them."

Robertson said she would happily volunteer to get in the tank to serve the fish lunch.

"I'd like to be able to do that," she said. "I'd like to be in there with them, as long as there are no sharks."

Her sister, Anna Robertson, 11, wasn't so sure.

"I'd rather be on the other side of the glass watching," she said.

VIA: DelmarvaNow.com