The North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores made a splash Friday when it unveiled its newly revamped, comic-style gallery that uses vibrant panels, colorful sculptures and hands-on experiences to illustrate the facility’s coral conservation and aquaculture efforts.
The North Carolina Aquarium Society, which is the nonprofit group that supports the state’s aquariums, welcomed 180 members for a sneak peek of the vibrant “Future Waters” gallery before the facility opened to the public that morning.
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The gallery features interactive displays, a 1,500-gallon saltwater coral reef habitat called “Conservation Cove,” and two working labs that highlight the aquarium’s sustainable aquaculture efforts and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Florida Reef Tract Rescue Project.
The Pine Knoll Shores aquarium is one of 20 holding facilities in 14 states taking part in the Florida Reef Tract Rescue Project. The network focuses on the rescue, housing and future propagation of Florida corals affected by stony coral tissue loss disease. The goal is to eventually reintroduce the corals to the reef.
The aquarium’s Coral Aquarist Andrew Feliton told Coastal Review that the aquarium is currently cultivating 10 species of coral, all of which have been in captivity since the rescue project began in 2019. The corals came from SeaWorld Orlando and the Florida Coral Rescue.
“We work closely with the Florida Wildlife Commission because these are technically their animals,” Feliton said.
Husbandry Curator Trent Boyette was standing with Feliton near the entrance of the exhibit as a steady stream of visitors made their way through the exhibit.
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To date, Boyette said, “we have successfully aquacultured about 23 different species since we first started in 2016.” Aquacultured means that fish, shellfish and other marine plants and animals were bred and raised in water, similar to farming on land.
The aquarium participates in species survival plans, Boyette continued, such as the lined seahorses on display in the exhibit’s working lab.
As the hum of visitors milling about the gallery filled the space, the aquarium’s Communications Manager Shannon Kemp told Coastal Review that staff have spent the last few years working on the gallery, creating about 90% in house, with an emphasis on making the exhibit interactive.
“This is one of the most tactile exhibits we have in the aquarium,” Kemp said, adding the education curator was interested in using a comic book theme “because it’s a different way of presenting information.”
Boyette noted that building the gallery was a major undertaking, to create almost all of the gallery in-house, from constructing the walls to acquiring the coral and fish.
“We spent probably the better part of two years just constructing all this,” Boyette said.
N.C. Aquarium Society President Liz Baird said the nonprofit support organization managed the $240,808 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and donations to build the gallery.
“Funding from public and private sources fits a real need to help communicate with the public, and aquariums and informal cultural organizations are a way to reach people that’s quite different than going to school,” Baird said. “An investment into an exhibit like this reaches a whole new audience in a whole new way, and has been proven effective. So we’re really grateful for that support to help bring this to life.”
Baird served as director of the Pine Knoll Shores aquarium from 2019 to 2023 before transitioning to the nonprofit, and was part of the planning process when the exhibit was first conceived.
“We really wanted a way to highlight the work that goes on behind the scenes, particularly in conservation, and to help people understand how they play a role in conservation,” she said as she greeted visitors and staff while enjoying the sunny morning on the front patio.
Baird said that they went with the comic book theme to draw visitors to the exhibit.
“When you think about the way that you want to engage with guests, be them young kids through grown adults, people learn best when they are self-directed, and find things that sort of catch their eye or tweak their imagination,” she said.
Though corals are really important for conservation, corals growing don’t catch the eye like the otters or sharks.
“By having this really fun theme,” Baird explained, people are drawn to the exhibit and want to learn why the corals are growing.
The aquaculture work has been taking place for several years, “and we’ve been highly successful at raising these fish, but that happens upstairs, behind the scenes. And again, it’s one of those things that’s not necessarily engaging unless you know the story behind it,” she said.
“These are organisms are really important to our oceans health, and the aquariums are helping take the lead in protecting them,” Baird said.
The aquarium is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. For more information or to book tickets in advance, visit www.ncaquariums.com/pine-knoll-shores or call 252-247-4003.
