TAMPA — The first sight of the new Tide Pool exhibit at Tampa’s Florida Aquarium is a bit dim, low lights and chilly water accenting the touch tank full of animals from the Pacific Northwest. Waves crash against the walls to imitate a rocky shoreline unlike what we are used to on the Gulf coast.
The immersive exhibit opening Aug. 1 has a lighting system set to change every eight minutes and mimic sunrise to sunset in the Pacific Northwest. It invites visitors to dip their hands into the water to pet a sea star or anemone or to hold a hermit crab.
The animals in the meandering touch tank look similar to the starfish and sea anemones we see on our Tampa Bay beaches, but with some differences brought about by evolution in the Pacific Ocean.
The sea stars are in a greater variety of colors, in pink and beige and spotted. Some have as many as 12 arms. And the anemones are even more varied in shades of green and pink with white spots of color.
The new exhibit is the only cold-water touch tank on Florida’s west coast.
The Tampa aquarium is commemorating its 30th anniversary this year in the midst of a multiyear, $45-million expansion project. It began with the 2023 opening of MORPH’D, a gallery that highlights how animals adapt or camouflage themselves.
Next year, the aquarium will debut Florida’s only Pacific puffin habitat of the cute black and white birds, featuring a kelp forest, variety of fish and expansive viewing windows.
Throughout the day at the new touch tank, caretakers will drop clams into the tank next to the sea stars. They will eventually hover over the clams and extrude their stomachs to suck up the meat.
But it takes hours.
“In a world set in chilly 50-degree water, life moves slower,” said Brett Durda, associate curator of exhibits for the aquarium.
Guests will be asked to limit themselves to a two-finger touch to feel the outside of the sea stars, snails, prawns and anemones in the river-like tank that will be stocked with more than 200 animals.
What they get is inviting, said Roger Germann, CEO of the Florida Aquarium since 2017.
“This is a fully immersive gallery from the moment you walk in, you are swept away to the Northwest,” Germann said.
Though it is called the Florida Aquarium, that’s the location, not the mission, Germann said.
“Our mission is conservation.“
The final phase of the aquarium’s expansion will bring a state-of-the-art sea lion exhibit, bringing California sea lions to the west coast of Florida for the first time, along with an expanded African penguin habitat.
“We are trying to tell the ecosystem’s story,” Germann said. “The minute you walk through the door you’ve been whisked away to learn what is best for the animals and animal welfare.”
If you go to the Florida Aquarium
The Tampa aquarium requires timed tickets available at flaquarium.org, with ticket prices changing depending on the day and time. Open weekdays 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Friday-Sunday 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Starting at $36.70; ages 3-11 $31. 701 Channelside Drive, Tampa. 813-273-4000. flaquarium.org.
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