Aquarium

Watching a dolphin do flips in the air and walk on its tail is the stuff of wide-eyed childhood wonderment, but it evokes a few ooohs and aahs from adults, too. So the new Marine Mammal Pavilion, which opened its doors this week, will make a big splash indeed in Baltimore.The $35 million pavilion is an impressive addition to the National Aquarium. It boasts Beluga whales and Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, a 110-foot-wide pool where dolphins perform, exhibitions, artwork, interactive games, a discovery room with marine animal artifacts, classrooms and a 40-foot replica of a humpback whale.

The National Aquarium's new $12.5 million "Blacktip Reef" exhibit, a replica of an Indo-Pacific coral reef that replaces the "Wings in the Water" exhibit, will open July 10, officials announced Monday. Once it is completed, visitors will be able to view the 260,000-gallon self-contained ecosystem through a 27-foot viewing window, as well as from platforms above the water. Visitors also will be able to observe diver demonstrations and feedings. "You're sort of transferred into their world," Jack Cover, the aquarium's general curator, said.

Three more Atlantic bottlenose dolphins were moved late last night into Baltimore's National Aquarium, joining three others that will be displayed in the new $35 million marine mammal pavilion when it opens in December.The three female dolphins -- Hailey, Schooner and Shiloh -- were purchased from Zoovet, a California-based company that supplies dolphins to aquariums, said Vicki Aversa, an aquarium spokeswoman. The dolphins had been living at the Hawk's Cay marine mammal facility in the Florida Keys.

Schools and government offices aren't the only things closing down in anticipation of today's snowstorm. Here is a partial list, continually being updated, of cultural and commercial institutions shutting down for the day. The American Visionary Art Museum is closed. Tonight's Hesperus Cine-Concert at An Die Musik Live has been postponed. The Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum and Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards are closed. The Baltimore Museum of Art is closed.

The bottlenose dolphin calf born March 26 appears to be gaining weight again after returning to a more normal nursing pattern, mammalogists at the National Aquarium in Baltimore said today.Last week, officials were concerned because the calf was losing weight and didn't appear to be getting the nourishment it needed."We're still concerned about the calf," said Nedra Hecker, senior mammalogist. "But we're feeling better about it."She said the staff had stopped its 24-hour watch of the calf and now keeps an 8 a.m.-to-6 p.m. watch.

An 18-month effort to repair damaged tanks at the National Aquarium in Baltimore came to a successful conclusion yesterday as hundreds of schoolchildren, acting like schools of fish, became the first visitors to tour the refurbished Atlantic Coral Reef tank.Board Chairman James A. Flick Jr. announced that the aquarium is just a few thousand dollars shy of reaching its goal of raising $24 million needed to pay for the repairs and build future exhibits.The construction work is "a testimony to our resolve to remain a leader -- a world-class aquarium, exciting and vital, entertaining and educational," he told more than 300 people gathered for the opening ceremonies on Pier 3."

LETTERS, or you never know who, or what, is out there:Our Glimpses about Baltimore's first aquarium, which opened in Druid Hill Park June 1, 1938, and closed five years later, prompted a letter from Haven Kolb:"As a young member of the Natural History Society of Maryland, I was acquainted with a number of persons active in establishing that aquarium, among them Fred Saffran, whom you quote." Kolb sent along a program from that opening day 53 years ago. Of particular note in the text: "You may join the aquarium by the payment of a dollar."

Neon educational panels near the Atlantic coral reef exhibit explain to visitors how reefs are formed -- and how they are being destroyed.Aquarium officials hope that the knowledge will transform curious visitors into concerned visitors -- who will then participate in something called Project ReefAction.The project, which has research, educational and fund-raising components, is part of the aquarium's efforts to extend the parameters of its mission beyond merely delighting and educating the public.

Officer Bill Goodman has been patrolling the Essex area on a bicycle for over a year, in all weather. When he can, he stops and talks with children and sometimes plays a quick game of catch.During one such game a few months ago, the Baltimore County police officer noticed several children from the Village of Tall Trees apartment complex talking about their bad grades. They didn't seem upset. Officer Goodman decided to issue a challenge: If they brought their grades up, he'd take all of them to the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

ALL APPEARED to be in order on first glance around the quarantine room behind the seal pool at the National Aquarium in Baltimore.Harbor seal 91-05 rested comfortably in his pool. Thin and debilitated when rescued several weeks ago on a Virginia beach, the nearly full-grown seal stirred at my presence, a signal that his breakfast of herring and smelt was probably on its way. His huge dark eyes followed my every movement, reminding me that I wasn't alone SueNevyin being awake and on the job at 7:30 on a Saturday morning.

After two years, the original owners of Zella's Pizzeria on Hollins Street are coming back. Julie Ernst and Cem Ari opened Zella's in 2007. It found a loyal following and helped to anchor the struggling Hollins Market neighborhood. They sold the business in 2010, but it floundered without them and eventually closed. In 2011, Ernst and Ari opened Toss , a pizzeria near the Senator Theatre in Rosebank, where they reunited with some of their old patrons, who encouraged them to return to Hollins Market.

Amanda Forr of Bel Air has been hired as communications manager for the National Aquarium in Baltimore. As communications manager, Forr will create, edit and deliver content and communications relating to the organization's mission within brand guidelines. This includes content for online communications such as the website, http://www.aqua.org , mobile website and social media platforms, as well as for marketing materials, the quarterly magazine, Watermarks, and the weekly WYPR-FM show "A Blue View.

Fourteen-year-old Caitlyn Fernandes of Dayton has dreams of one day being an actress, but when she landed a role in a television special that will air this week on Maryland Public Television, it wasn't the bright lights that attracted her attention. It was the dolphins. Filming for the show, "The Great Aquarium Treasure Hunt," took place after hours over several days at the National Aquarium in Baltimore . For the Glenelg High School freshman, it was a dream come true. "I'm really into animals, so seeing all of the aquatic life was my favorite part," she said.

Attendance at the National Aquarium's Inner Harbor and Washington venues rose 2.4 percent last year, the first increase since the recession, thanks to an improving economy and a more interactive aquarium experience, CEO John Racanelli said. The attraction drew 1.55 million people last year, including 1.34 million at the Inner Harbor destination, marking the first increase since 2006. During an interview Wednesday at The Baltimore Sun, Racanelli said the more than 30-year-old aquarium is repositioning itself to not only offer entertainment, but also to advocate for cleaner, healthier oceans.

Christopher C. Hartman, known as Baltimore's P.T. Barnum when he staged flamboyant media events as press spokesman for Mayor William Donald Schaefer, died of heart failure Thursday at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. He was 67 and lived in Cockeysville. A founder and first chairman of the 1970 Baltimore City Fair, he was recalled as a promoter of city neighborhoods, sports teams and businesses. His best-known stunt was dressing the mayor in an old-style swimming suit and posing him in a pool with a rubber duck alongside a comely mermaid outside the National Aquarium in 1981.

She had won a string of beauty pageants - and was the original St. Pauli Girl of beer advertising fame - so Debbie Walker, a blond model from Washington, D.C., was accustomed to her fair share of attention. But she'd never seen anything like the morning of July 15, 1981. She had to wear a skin-tight, sequined costume with a 15-foot train for that gig. A team of frogmen carried her across a makeshift pond and placed her on a rock. And as cameras from media outlets around the world clicked, flashed and rolled, three seals swam over to pay her a visit, followed by an equally frisky mayor of Baltimore, William Donald Schaefer.

A year-old harp seal, found stranded on Assateague Island at least 500 miles south of its natural habitat, was in critical condition yesterday at the National Aquarium.T. David Schofield, a senior mammalogist at the aquarium, said the seal was found Monday, weighing 76 pounds -- about 35 pounds below normal -- and was dehydrated and possibly stricken with parasites. Its condition has improved only slightly since it was found, he said."We're watching this animal closely," Mr. Schofield said.

A security guard at the National Aquarium passed out early today when he walked into a room where machinery that produces ozone for a water purification system had blown a pressure relief valve.The guard, Sylvester McIntosh, 38, of the 3500 block of Edmondson Ave., was taken to Mercy Medical Center, where he was reported in stable condition, undergoing evaluation.Capt. Patrick P. Flynn, a spokesman for the city Fire Department, said a hazardous materials team was called to the aquarium's new Marine Mammal Pavilion at 6:41 a.m., but aquarium personnel had controlled the leak before they arrived.

Attendance at the National Aquarium this year is expected to tick up a little more than 1 percent to 1.33 million, but remains significantly below levels experienced several years ago before the recession. Still, an economic impact report to be released Wednesday found that many of the visitors to the Inner Harbor attraction come from out of state, spend a good deal of money in the region and cite the aquarium as the reason they came. The study, conducted by Sage Policy Group, estimates that the aquarium is responsible for an economic impact of nearly $320 million in the Baltimore and Washington region, providing an underpinning for more than 3,300 jobs.

Marylanders can knock up to $8 off the cost of a morning visit to Baltimore's National Aquarium, under a program announced Monday. The "Maryland Mornings" promotion discounts adult admission by $8 and child admission by $4 for visits that start before noon Sunday through Friday. "Maryland Mornings is one of the ways for us to show our appreciation to our fellow community members," Aquarium CEO John Racanelli said in a news release. "National Aquarium may have a reach that spans across the country and world, but our roots are in Maryland and many of our conservation and education efforts are based here.