Idaho Aquarium reels in audiences

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Credit: Korey Combs

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Grace Gibney, Staff Writer
January 31, 2012
Filed under News

By Grace Gibney

The opening of the Idaho Aquarium Dec. 16 brings a wave of new life to the Treasure Valley. With its goal to “educate and inspire the community to conserve oceanic life,” the aquarium offers an otherworldly glimpse of marine life that thrives beneath the ocean’s tides.

The Idaho Aquarium hosts a variety of marine life. Its main exhibits feature a shark nursery, coral reef habitat, shark and stingray pool, a jellyfish tank, a giant octopus tank, and tide pools.

Many exhibits are open for visitors to touch the sea life, which makes for a more enjoyable experience. While visiting the aquarium with her grandchildren, Maribel Hahn said, “It makes the visit a lot more fun for my kids. Not only can they see a stingray, but they can touch it too. It’s a great experience.”

The animals themselves are never hand-picked out of the big blue. Instead, they are transferred from other aquariums or bought from licensed animal breeders.

“We are waiting for a green sea turtle to arrive,” said aquarium volunteer Heidi Peterson. “It’s been ordered, but we are filling out paperwork and waiting for Idaho Fish and Game to approve its arrival.” Peterson explained that this procedure is carried out for all sea life that comes into the aquarium, a process that can take months to complete.

Within the past month after opening, the aquarium has seen a vast amount of visitors pass through its doors, starting with 400 guests the first week and climbing to 800 the second. “We had 1,600 visitors last Saturday,” said Peterson. The aquarium staff expects this number to grow within the coming weeks.

The staff and volunteers at the aquarium hold a passion for their work. “It’s great to work with the people here,” said intern and biology major Sheree Dessel. “Marine life is so fascinating. There is so much about the ocean that people don’t know about. It’s fun to work with the animals and do research studies, and even clean tanks.”

Within the next two years, The Idaho Aquarium plans to add sea otter, puffin, and poisonous frog exhibits. They also plan to construct a 13 foot high, walk-through tunnel that will house numerous different species of sharks.