North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher

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The Spadefish Sculpture outside the main entrance of the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher.

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Coordinates: 33°57′46″N, 77°55′32″W

The North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher is a public aquarium located in Kure Beach, North Carolina at Fort Fisher. It is one of three state-operated aquariums in North Carolina and has been accrediated by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

[edit] Exhibits

The focus of the aquarium is to educate the public about the waters of the Cape Fear region. The Cape Fear Conservatory, the visitor’s first stop in the aquarium, features freshwater life. In this large, tree-filled atrium, streams, ponds and swamps are home to frogs, snakes, bass, catfish and perch. Herbivorous plants and box turtles hide among the conservatory’s groundcover. American alligators native to North Carolina occupy one of the larger exhibits in the conservatory. In 2006, the aquarium opened an exhibit featuring the venomous snakes of the region, including several species of rattlesnake, copperheads and cottonmouths.

The Coastal Waters Gallery, which includes the Coquina Outcrop Touch Pool, provides hands-on opportunities to learn about sea urchins, horseshoe crabs, whelk and other creatures of a rocky outcrop surf zone. Masonboro Inlet Jetty features the fishes common around a wave-washed rock jetty, an indoor salt marsh, a sea horse habitat, and a loggerhead sea turtle display.

The Open Oceans Gallery includes Sharkstooth Ledge, which features fish common to offshore North Carolina, such as pufferfish, hogfish and filefish. The gallery also displays octopus, jellyfish and corals native to the state's waters.

Holding 235,000 gallons, Cape Fear Shoals is the largest of the aquarium’s saltwater exhibits. The 24-foot-deep replica of an offshore reef offers two-story, multi-level views of large sharks, stingrays, groupers, and moray eels.

The Exotic Aquatics display features animals native to the Indo-Pacific oceans. These displays include cuttlefish, the red lionfish (Pterois volitans) and North Carolina native, the spotted scorpionfish. They are both known for their inconspicuous, venomous spines. Lionfish are native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, but in 2000 they were confirmed as having established themselves in North Carolina.

The 550-gallon Pacific reef display feature living corals, giant clam and anemones, cardinalfish, hawkfish, clownfish, wrasses, surgeonfish, and nearly a dozen other fish species.

[edit] Aquarium expansion

The North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher closed in November 1999 for a major expansion and reopened in March 2002. The new construction increased the size of aquarium systems from 77,000 gallons to 455,000 gallons. The expansion included the creation of the Cape Fear Shoals tank, a 235,000 gallon exhibit recreating the hard bottomed coral reefs off the coast of North Carolina.