 LOCATION:
Pier 3, 501 East Pratt Street
, Baltimore, MD 21202
, U.S.A.
Phone: 01-301-4816000
URL: http://www.aqua.org
 KEY WORDS:
habitat, ecosystem, children, aquarium
 ANIMALS:
| Family: | Species: | Common Name: | Capacity: |
| Entelurus | | Pipefish | 9 |
| Hippocampus | 10 different species | Seahorse | up to 40/tank |
| Hippocampus | 2 different species | Seadragon | up to 40/tank |
 DESCRIPTION:
In 'SEAHORSES: Beyond Imagination', nine finely detailed environments are the backdrop for the dramatic story of seahorses. The size of the habitats necessitated one of the largest collections of seahorses ever mounted. In many of the exhibits, up to 40 individual animals per species, ranging in size from 1 inch to 11 inches (2.5 to 28 cm), are on display. Instead of small jewel tanks used for most exhibits, large habitats provide a true setting. The experience is likened to putting on a mask and descending a few feet beneath the water's surface. The intuitive effect is to give visitors insight into a beautiful but complex environment - where adaptations become obvious and the animals' relative scale in the world is understandable.
Stacked video monitors showing dramatic footage of seahorse eyes, tails, fins and mouths, accompany the large entryway graphic. Visitors are drawn to the 5-foot (1.5 m) diameter cylindrical tank to the left, housing weedy seadragons from the Tasmanian kelp forests. Other featured habitats include a Caribbean Reef, a tropical Mangrove, a Galapagos Reef Wall, sandy flats of the Florida Keys, an Australian Bay, and an Indo-Pacific Reef. Closer to home, the Chesapeake Bay exhibit features seahorses and pipefish found in grass beds of nearby Atlantic waters. The gallery experience ends with another large cylindrical tank, featuring the show-stopping leafy seadragons from Australia.
The exhibit is designed to be in the National Aquarium temporarily, later moving to other aqauriums around the country.
 SIZE:
Total: 2,122 square feet with back up (191 m2) Exhibit Tanks: 9 tanks, 7,224 gallons (27,000 liter); two 5-foot (1,5 m) diameter cylindrical tanks with 7 feet (2 m) of viewing access per tank; three 4-foot(1.2 m) squares with 8 linear feet (2.4 m) of viewing access per tank; two 'L' shaped tanks with 8 linear feet (2.4 m) of viewing access per tank; one 60 gallon (227 liter) tank with 1.5 linear feet (0.5 m) of viewing access. Space allocation in square meters:
| use | indoors | outdoors | total exhibit |
| accessible | total | accessible | total |
| animals | | | | | |
| visitors | | | | | |
| others | | | | | |
| total | | | | | 191 |
 COSTS:
 OPENING DATE:
31 March 2001
 DESIGN:
Beginning:
- Exhibit Design: aquarium staff, Baltimore
 CONSTRUCTION:
Beginning:
- Habitats: Larson, Tucson, Arizona
- Videos: Hartmann Productions, Baltimore, Maryland
- Computer Interactives: N-Tera, Tennessee
- Artificial Seaweed and Plants: Carl Gage, California
- Final Touches: aquarium staff, Baltimore
 LOCAL CONDITIONS:
 PLANTS:
Because bright, artificial lighting would inhibit viewing into the tanks, real plants could not be grown in the exhibits. Realistic artificial plants were used as an alternative.
 FEATURES DEDICATED TO ANIMALS:
Each of the nine different habitats were created to be very naturalistic and spacious enough to offer animals ample personal space. Seahorses were provided with objects to hang on and anchor to with their tails. Colors used in the tanks offer camouflage. Water jets add currents to the water that causes food to move, giving the impression to the animals of live food to catch.
 FEATURES DEDICATED TO KEEPERS:
 FEATURES DEDICATED TO VISITORS:
'SEAHORSES: Beyond Imagination' was designed with younger visitors and families as the target audience. Large viewing opportunities encourage entire families to share the experience together. As profiled by annual marketing surveys conducted by Morey and Associates in 2000, the average Aquarium visitor unit is 2.4 adults; 55% of whom are children under 18. The average age of the under-18 visitor category was eight years old.
 INTERPRETATION:
Each display has an identification and interpretive panel describing the habitat and species. Overhead video monitors display images and key message text choreographed to the gallery soundtrack. Small 4-inch video portholes set low in the walls allow young children to enjoy the behaviors of an animated seahorse. The Aquarium's off-site breeding program and habitat restoration projects, and programs conducted by Project Seahorse, are featured in video Conservation Portraits set within larger graphic panels. Exhibit Guides stationed in the gallery enrich the experience, pointing out key adaptations and behaviors.
Outside the gallery, a staffed Discovery Station and interactive computer touch screens reinforce storylines. Artifacts -- dried seahorses, live displays of baby seahorses and their food, a video scope, and photos -- enhance the station. Visitors are made aware of husbandry challenges that make seahorses, pipefish and seadragons inappropriate for home aquariums. With nearly 80% of visitors living within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, visitors are encouraged to help replenish the bay's dwindling marsh and seagrass beds by volunteering with local watershed groups. A computer allows visitors to enter their e-mail addresses in order to receive additional conservation information. A series of follow up e-mails contain ideas for personal actions. 'Seahorse Savvy', a lively game show, held in the Auditorium, tests audience knowledge through interactive quiz questions and video lifelines.
 MANAGEMENT:
The exhibit is maintained by three aquarists on a rotating basis. Animals are fed several times per day. Most animals recieve frozen food, although some, such as leafy sea dragons, require live food, which is flown in twice a week. There is an off-site breeding program and the aquarium works with a Taxon Advisory Group (TAG) to improve husbandry techniques. Staff continually checks multimedia interactives in the visitor area to ensure functionality and maintains the discovery cart where seahorse babies are shown by video.
 RESEARCH:
Front-end, formative, and summative evaluation instruments were used throughout the process. Pre-exhibit surveys revealed that visitors knew very little about seahorses. Once the exhibit opened, visitors were tracked and it appeared that all components (tanks, graphics, videos, interactive computers, and discovery station) were highly used. The gallery design and content encouraged lively conversation, exclamations and lots of pointing. The video portholes were surprising discoveries for youngsters. Post-exhibit surveys showed an increase in comprehension of the four key message points, and more open-ended post-visit questionnaires revealed high recall of content. When asked to describe the exhibit experience, visitors selected the following feelings most often: surprised, knowledgeable, inspired, and concerned.
A substantive source of comments comes through the discovery station and e-mails. Response to this option was overwhelming, with up to 800 e-mail addresses per day being added into the system. Visitor satisfaction surveys by Morey and Associates during 2001 indicated that this exhibit was rated "excellent" by an average of 93% of the visitors. This is the highest rating an aquarium exhibit has ever achieved.
 CONSERVATION:
The Aquarium runs an off-site breeding program and habitat restoration projects. The population of seahorses housed in the aquarium is self-sustaining, so replacement animals will not have to be taken from the wild.
 LOCAL RESOURCES:
In addition to collecting trips to Mexico for giant pacific seahorses, the northern lion sea horses were collected from local waters. To obtain Australian species, trades were made with Australian aquariums, rather than collecting from the wild. |
 |
| 54K | 80K |
| Carribean Mangrove Habitat (12) |
| ©National Aquarium, 2001 |
 |
| 48K | 71K |
| Phillipine Reef Habitat (13) |
| ©National Aquarium, 2001 |
 |
| 31K | 45K |
| Tiger Tail Seahorse (21) |
| ©National Aquarium, 2001 |
 |
| 32K | 46K |
| Shorthead Seahorse (22) |
| ©National Aquarium, 2001 |
 |
| 22K | 33K |
| Crown Seahorse (23) |
| ©National Aquarium, 2001 |
|
