Friday, October 24, 2014

Sept. 30- behind the scenes at the TN aquarium- by Amanda M.

Today the Tucker River Fellows went to the Tennessee Aquarium and met up with our friend Kathlina Alford to take a “behind the scenes” tour of the aquarium. We got a view from above the tanks and watched as someone went scuba diving! All of the water from the tanks is form our own Tennessee River (they just filter and add the salt) and the coral is made of concrete. The aquarium is careful to conserve the water they use in the tanks. 
Some fun facts we learned:
-each suction cup on the octopus is controlled separately
-spider crabs loose legs when the get scared but they grow back (we heard a story about one who was shipped and came into the aquarium with no legs at all!)
-sharks lose teeth constantly and some of them are for sale in the gift shop
-the aquarium has its own Vet Lab where they can perform surgery on any of the animals. They also have a waterproof x-ray machine. 
-they freeze food and give it to the birds so they have to work hard to get their favorite snack.


We are so glad you are reading about what we do and can’t wait to get others involved!

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