Beluga

The National Aquarium has decided to remove its two surviving beluga whales -- in part because of the apparent killing of a beluga by a dolphin last month during a training exercise in the Marine Mammal Pavilion.Aquarium Director Nicholas Brown said last night that the decision to give up the beluga and concentrate on dolphins was made Thursday and announced to his staff in a written memo but was not made public before word had leaked out. It was reported last night by WBAL-TV."I don't have any idea when they're going or where they're going," Mr. Brown said.

Victoria Gastro Pub has posted its Valentine's Day menu. It's an a la carte affair with a handful of items added into the regular menu. Those special items include cornmeal-fried oysters; Madeira onion soup gratinee with braised short rib; roasted sea scallops pancetta; leeks and Beluga lentils; veal tenderloin and, for dessert, raspberry truffle cake. Victoria Gastro Pub is also debuting a few items on its regular menu, starting Friday, Feb. 10. They include sauteed shrimp with crispy speck ham, spaghetti squash and rosemary tomato; a Camembert pizza with balsamic cremini mushrooms and marinated roasted peppers; escargot with roasted garlic lemon brown butter; roasted Duroc pork loin with winter vegetable and Yukon potato hash and a grilled Creekstone Farms fillet.

The word "not" was omitted from a sentence in Saturday's article about the National Aquarium planning to send its beluga whales to Sea World. The sentence, relating a comment by Sea World spokesman Bob McCullough about the inclusion of Pacific white-sided dolphins in a 2 million-gallon outdoor pool, should have read that interaction between the two species had not been a problem.The Sun regrets the error.An agreement is being negotiated to send the National Aquarium's popular beluga whales to Sea World of Texas, officials at the Baltimore and San Antonio marine attractions confirmed yesterday.

The National Aquarium is set Thursday to unveil its new Conservation Center, established to focus the institution's work in marine conservation and research, and to expand its scope to a national and global stage. In cooperation with scientists at aquariums and universities here and across the country, the center's researchers are already at work tracking contaminants from the BP oil well blowout, and studying threatened eagle rays. "With what's happening to the environment today, with the pressure of human activity, [the board felt]

The National Aquarium's two beluga whales arrived at Sea World in San Antonio yesterday, joining the world's largest captive population of the species.Kia and Sikku arrived by plane about 10 a.m. EST at Kelly Air Base, 12 miles from Sea World, said its curator, Glenn Young. The animals, which were monitored en route by veterinarians, were not showing any problems, he said."Everything went according to plan. There's been nothing unusual," Mr. Young said.The whales were placed in acclimation tanks apart from 10 other beluga already at Sea World.

The untimely death of a beluga whale at Baltimore's National Aquarium has led to the rare captive birth of another at a Sea World park in San Antonio.Kia -- one of the two surviving female belugas sent to Texas last year -- delivered her estimated 125-pound male calf Saturday morning. It was the third birth for the Sea World park's burgeoning beluga population in less than two weeks, and a record event for captive breeding programs.Baltimore's aquarium decided to give up the popular marine mammal species after another beluga, Anore, was killed in December 1991 by an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, which apparently rammed her during a training exercise in the amphitheater show tank.

The decision by the National Aquarium in Baltimore to send its surviving beluga whales to another fish tank in the wake of a beluga death there on Dec. 23 was called an admission of guilt yesterday by animal rights groups."

Victoria Gastro Pub has posted its Valentine's Day menu. It's an a la carte affair with a handful of items added into the regular menu. Those special items include cornmeal-fried oysters; Madeira onion soup gratinee with braised short rib; roasted sea scallops pancetta; leeks and Beluga lentils; veal tenderloin and, for dessert, raspberry truffle cake. Victoria Gastro Pub is also debuting a few items on its regular menu, starting Friday, Feb. 10. They include sauteed shrimp with crispy speck ham, spaghetti squash and rosemary tomato; a Camembert pizza with balsamic cremini mushrooms and marinated roasted peppers; escargot with roasted garlic lemon brown butter; roasted Duroc pork loin with winter vegetable and Yukon potato hash and a grilled Creekstone Farms fillet.

The first anniversary of the Marine Mammal Pavilion at the National Aquarium has been marked by the death of the second beluga whale in as many years, and this time they're blaming the dolphins.Flipper to Press: Stop me, Before I Kill Another Beluga!Give the aquarium types credit. We hadn't heard this one before. But then, after 10 years of trying to explain the deaths of dolphins and whales, of having to defend the trapping of marine mammals, of having to find unique ways to convince an increasingly nature-sensitive public that the new pavilion is an "educational" facility, not just a watery amusement park -- after all that, I guess even the sharpest public relations minds run out of things to say.So this time, they're blaming the dolphins.

WALKING ACROSS the enclosed footbridge that connects the National Aquarium's original structure with the new Marine Mammal Pavilion islike going from night into day. The new $35 million structure is surrounded by glass that spills natural light inside and offers picture postcard views of the harbor and city skyline from nearly every corner.Its airiness is in stark contrast to the murky atmosphere of the nearly 10-year-old aquarium's main building. That environment suggests being underwater and channels visitors on a one-way course past thousands of creatures, from angelfish to puffins to sharks.

It's hard to write an appreciative article on black caviar that anyone will take seriously. It's like writing why you prefer a Bugatti to a Bentley - except it's worse, because even if most people are indifferent to a snobbish disquisition on luxury cars, at least they wouldn't actually object to getting a ride in one if it was going their way. Black caviar, however, is not only very expensive but also composed of fish eggs in brine. It's practically the definition of an acquired taste.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, which banned the importing of beluga caviar from the Caspian Sea last month, extended the ban to the Black Sea basin yesterday, in effect banning all imports of the most highly prized variety of caviar. Beluga caviar already in the United States may still be sold, but only for the next 18 months, the agency said. "We still have enough beluga to last until the end of the year, depending on the demand, of course," said Michel Emery, director of sales in New York for Petrossian, the caviar importer.

The Oregon Grille in Cockeysville boasts one of the most sumptuous menus in the area - beluga caviar appetizers, 18-ounce prime sirloin strip steaks, 5-pound lobsters and New Zealand rack of lamb. Diners who eat in its elegant rooms may know that their meals are the inspiration of celebrated chef Mark Henry. It's not likely, however, that they have ever heard of Jason Openhym or Matt Siegmund. They are the Oregon Grille's sous-chefs, and it is their job to turn Henry's vision into reality each day. Like understudies in the theater, sous-chefs work behind the scenes, learning their trade from the stars and waiting some day for a leading role.

Food court of dreamsHERE'S AN IDEA to resurrect the Blaustein Exhibition Center of the City Life Museums and save Baltimore's vanishing, beloved restaurants at the same time: Reopen the museum with shrunken versions of the restaurants -- sort of an old-age home for landmark eateries.Haussner's could open a scaled-down version of the fabled German dining house about to close in Highlandtown, complete with a few paintings held back from the auction block.If folks miss the original Louie's Bookstore Cafe on North Charles Street, now in the midst of changing hands, a branch could open at City Life.

What conjures up thoughts of a New Year's celebration more than caviar? The mere mention of it sends images of status, wealth, elegance and luxury dancing through our heads.Christian Petrossian, whose father and uncle introduced Russian caviar to Paris in the 1920s, says, "It is more than a food -- it is a dream."Even now I can easily relive an experience years ago when I was a line cook. The chef came up from the storeroom with a box of Belgian endive. He called me over and opened the box. There, tucked in with the perfect white heads, were a half-dozen miniature black jars.

The untimely death of a beluga whale at Baltimore's National Aquarium has led to the rare captive birth of another at a Sea World park in San Antonio.Kia -- one of the two surviving female belugas sent to Texas last year -- delivered her estimated 125-pound male calf Saturday morning. It was the third birth for the Sea World park's burgeoning beluga population in less than two weeks, and a record event for captive breeding programs.Baltimore's aquarium decided to give up the popular marine mammal species after another beluga, Anore, was killed in December 1991 by an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, which apparently rammed her during a training exercise in the amphitheater show tank.

It's hard to write an appreciative article on black caviar that anyone will take seriously. It's like writing why you prefer a Bugatti to a Bentley - except it's worse, because even if most people are indifferent to a snobbish disquisition on luxury cars, at least they wouldn't actually object to getting a ride in one if it was going their way. Black caviar, however, is not only very expensive but also composed of fish eggs in brine. It's practically the definition of an acquired taste.

A National Aquarium curator said a sharp blow from a dolphin's tail shattered the ribs and ruptured the heart of Anore, a 9-year-old beluga whale that died Monday. But animal-rights activists have another explanation."Actually, it's captivity that killed her," said Richard O'Barry, the trainer of television's "Flipper" and now a crusader against live whale and dolphin exhibits.Douglas Messinger, the aquarium's marine mammal curator, said examination Monday night at Johns Hopkins Hospital showed that the 11-foot-long, 1,100-pound animal was probably hit during a 12:35 p.m. training exercise in the main exhibition pool.

What is it about whales? Something about the eyes.Anyone who has ever taken a whale-watching trip and stared down into the green water to find a big eye staring brightly back knows a curious, unmistakable feeling of kinship.And that intimacy of fellow voyagers comes powerfully through "In the Company of Whales," a passionate documentary film premiering this weekend on cable's Discovery Channel."Maybe they would like to make friends with us," says biologist Roger Payne midway through the two-hour program, which debuts at 9 p.m. tomorrow on the Maryland-based cable network (with multiple repeats through the month)

The National Aquarium's two beluga whales arrived at Sea World in San Antonio yesterday, joining the world's largest captive population of the species.Kia and Sikku arrived by plane about 10 a.m. EST at Kelly Air Base, 12 miles from Sea World, said its curator, Glenn Young. The animals, which were monitored en route by veterinarians, were not showing any problems, he said."Everything went according to plan. There's been nothing unusual," Mr. Young said.The whales were placed in acclimation tanks apart from 10 other beluga already at Sea World.