Koi fish and stingrays grew lonely during COVID quarantine - The Daily Gazette

Posted: 04 Jul 2020 12:00 AM PDT

ROTTERDAM — Even cartilaginous fish got lonely during the COVID-19 shutdown.

The stingrays in the touch tank at Via Aquarium have grown so conditioned to visitors hand-feeding them that they were nose-bumping the staff toward the end of the 105-day closure period the state imposed on the facility.

The aquarium and other Phase 4 operations in the Capital Region were allowed to resume operation Wednesday. It's back open with extensive safeguards against disease transmission and two 30-minute closures per day to allow for a complete antiseptic wipe-down.

Some of the marine life on exhibit may have welcomed the reopening.

"Our koi fish in particular are used to guests putting their hands in the tank and feeding them," manager Tom Lavin said Thursday.

The rays also are used to being petted and fed, he added, and during the shutdown they started bumping the probe whenever a staff member went to test the pH of the water in their tank.

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It was like a litter of amphibious puppies, he said. "Our animals definitely missed a lot of the interaction."

There were no guests on site and fewer employees, as much of the staff at the aquarium was furloughed. The biologists were deemed essential and stayed on duty.

But out of the public eye, life went on for the marine creatures.

The continually breeding Lake Malawi cichlid fish produced colorful new generations.

"During the quarantine our seahorses had three different clutches of babies," Lavin added.

The short staff tried to keep the aquarium in the public's eye and maintain the connection with members, by broadcasting feedings and mermaid story times on Facebook Live.

Fans returned the attention. One family donated rats for the albino boa constrictor. Another donated vegetables for the vegetarian fish.

Behind the scenes, the staff held Zoom meetings with other aquariums to share ideas on getting through the crisis and getting back to normal afterward.

Aquariums and similar facilities were rated among the least essential of businesses closed down to thwart the spread of COVID-19, so they were among the last allowed to reopen in New York.

"Right now we're just trying to focus on people back in there, keeping them as safe as possible," Lavin said.

An important part of Via Aquarium's business model is group visits, and those are limited these days — just a few day camp groups are booked for this summer.

Birthday parties and other special events also are curtailed.

"Right now we're just kind of focusing on the individuals," Lavin said.

The aquarium got one lucky break: Its group entrance faces out onto the parking lot. If all it had was the entrance inside the mall, it probably couldn't have reopened, as interior spaces of malls larger than 100,000 square feet remain closed by state order.

With a little modification, the entrance for groups is now the entrance for everyone.

Some of the more interactive displays were removed, too, so as to limit contact between guests.

But the same basic model — inform, educate, entertain — remains in place, with the same creatures on display.

"We knew things had to be as close to normal as possible," Lavin said.

TALE OF THE TAPE

NAME: VIA Aquarium

ADDRESS: 93 W. Campbell Road, Rotterdam

EXHIBITS: 37, designed by theme

CENSUS: About 3,000

LARGEST CREATURE: Albino boa, 6.5 feet

LARGEST FISH: Nurse shark, 6 feet

SMALLEST CREATURE: Baby seahorse, as big as a dime, too fragile to display

SMALLEST CREATURE ON DISPLAY: Poison dart frogs, as big as a quarter

LOCAL RESIDENTS: Bass, bluegills, pumpkinseed, sunfish and other fish native to the Capital Region

DEEPEST DWELLER: In the wild, the Japanese spider crab spends much of its life at depths of 1,000 feet or more.

Explore the ocean world at Hampton Beach aquarium - Seacoastonline.com

Posted: 09 Jul 2020 08:30 AM PDT

HAMPTON – The wonders of the deep are available to see and touch at the Oceanarium, a small Hampton aquarium run by local marine biologist Ellen Goethel.

Located between The Oceanside Inn and Lighthouse Grocery at 367 Ocean Boulevard, Explore the Ocean World Oceanarium gives the young and old a chance to see and hold living marine species. Some of her live friends from the deep traditionally exist in depths between 1,000 and 3,000 feet, so far down it's always midnight because light doesn't even penetrate the water.

"I have 10-armed sunstars and a pizza star that looks just like a cheese pizza. They live between 300 and 1,000 feet down," Goethel said. "And a spiny crab that's about 24-inches across when it's stretched out. It looks like an Alaskan king crab."

In the tide pool tanks, visitors can see and hold the tiny crabs, starfish and sea cucumbers, for example. And Goethel has three rare-colored lobsters: blue, yellow, and a calico that's so rare the chances of finding one alive is about one in 30 million, according to the University of Maine's Lobster Institute.

The tour begins at the deep water tank, Goethel said, and goes on to one of the most popular parts for visitors, the discussion of whales and sharks, complete with Goethel's samples of artifacts of each species.

"They get to touch everything," Goethel said. "The whole visit takes about an hour, maybe an hour and a half. "

Goethel tailors her presentation for adults and children ages 4 and older.

The best part of the Oceanarium isn't merely that visitors can see and touch such rare examples of ocean life. It's that Goethel gives the tour with her deep understanding of her topic that helps visitors appreciate each of her deep sea critters, as well whales and sharks and the other more common species found along New Hampshire's shores.

For 40 years, Goethel has been a popular lecturer in the region's schools, educating students on the marvels found in the ocean, especially the Gulf of Maine. Her Oceanarium has been a Hampton Beach staple for eight years.

In spite of COVID-19 restrictions she opened this year as scheduled on June 27. Goethel opened the doors after making alterations for social distancing and ventilation, and other safety precautions, like requiring masks and light plastic gloves for all visitors.

"People have been very good about social distancing and remaining 6 feet apart," she said. "I limit the number of people who can be in Oceanarium to 10 to 15 people at one time. If we're full, I give out wristbands and a time for them to come back."

Goethel comes by her knowledge through both education and experience. Not only does she have a bachelor's degree in invertebrate zoology from the University of New Hampshire, but her husband, David, is a commercial fisherman who has worked the waters off New Hampshire for decades.

Ellen Goethel's understanding of ocean life has been a valued resource for New Hampshire for many years. She was a member of the Federal Marine Protected Area Advisory Council and New Hampshire's representative to the New England Fishing Management Council.

It's her relationship with the region's fishermen and children that help her fill the three tanks at the Oceanarium. The specimens in her 150-gallon deep ocean tank are mostly brought to her by local commercial fishermen when they find rare marine life in their nets. Items in the tide pool tank come from her youngest local fans.

"Kids regularly pop in here and bring me things they find," Goethel said. "It's amazing how much interesting stuff we have here."

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