National Aquarium

It will look like the British invasion of 1814 all over again. But the armada of tall ships sailing into Baltimore this summer will be larger. And their cannons will remain silent in deference to the two-toed sloths napping in the National Aquarium. A million tourists and more than 10,000 small boats are expected to crowd Baltimore's waterfront June 21-29 to watch 27 tall ships from around the world take part in the largest sailing festival in the city's history. Ships from Indonesia, Denmark, Colombia, Germany, Ireland and 12 other countries will anchor in the Inner Harbor, Fells Point, Canton and Locust Point for eight days as part of a tour of seven East Coast ports, organizers of the Operation Sail 2000 event will announce today.

People aren't the only ones at risk from eating mercury-contaminated fish, since coal-burning power plants have liberally sprinkled the toxic metal across the earth's waters.  But it appears that captive dolphins have a little less to worry about in that regard than their wild counterparts. A new study by researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the National Aquarium in Baltimore found that the aquarium's captive bottlenose dolphins have lower levels of mercury in their bodies than wild dolphins tested off the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of Florida.

The National Aquarium will celebrate its 30th anniversary with Weekend Festival Friday-Sunday, Aug. 5-7. This free festival will offer entertainment and activities for folks of all ages, such as live music by Milkshake and the St. Veronica's Youth Steel Orchestra, an Ocean Art Project, dance instruction and an area for children. The aquarium's conservation team will also be on site to inform everyone about recycling. Hours are Friday, noon-7 p.m.; and Saturday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Call 410-576-3800, or go to http://www.aqua.org.

Joe Queenan is nobody's Mr. Nice Guy. But the deliciously cutting columnist has a soft side for, of all things, Baltimore. In fact in the Wall Street Journal, Queenan rides like a white knight to the city's defense after what he sees as slight after slight from Hollywood. Exhibit A: John Cusack movie "The Raven. " "In the new film "The Raven," innocent people - some of them really nice, innocent people - find themselves buried alive, or garroted, or sliced in half by a pendulum, or missing a tongue, with no reason why such misfortune has befallen them," he writes.

An 11-day-old dolphin calf born at the National Aquarium in Baltimore died Sunday morning, shortly after staff first noticed it was breathing irregularly. The cause of death has not been determined for the 30-pound, 2- to 3-foot-long calf that was born March 10 to an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin named Jade. A necropsy was performed at the Johns Hopkins University's comparative pathology lab by National Aquarium veterinarians and Hopkins staff. Aquarium officials were awaiting test results from cultures, which could take one to two weeks, according to a statement from the aquarium.

A major Wall Street credit rating agency revised its outlook of the National Aquarium's finances to "stable" on Tuesday, after the nonprofit attraction at the Inner Harbor last year experienced a dip in its position because of the weak economy. Last June, Moody's Investor Service cut the aquarium's bond rating from "A3" to "Baa1," which made it more expensive for the nonprofit to borrow money. The service this week affirmed the rating, which impacts $29.7 million in debt but changed its outlook from negative to stable.

Hastings, the injured harbor seal rescued in Ocean City in January, returned to the Atlantic waters this morning after months of rehabilitation. The seal was tagged with a satellite transmitter before his release on the beach in the Ocean City inlet in front of a crowd of onlookers. The transmitter will allow scientists to track him and learn more about migration and feeding patterns. When Hastings was released, Aquarium spokesperson Jen Bloomer said, "He looked around a bit … then he spotted the water and headed toward it. His head was up as he went through the waves.

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A sellout crowd got into the swim of things at "Splash! 2000." The National Aquarium brimmed with about 2,000 partyers, who helped raise more than $85,000 for its coming seahorse exhibit. Resident dolphins frolicked in their pool as their human guests boogied on the dance floor. Sea creatures nibbled air bubbles in their tanks, as sea lovers noshed on goodies from a boatload of Baltimore restaurants. In the splashy gathering: Peter B. Rosenwald II, event chair; Chris Padgett, event co-chair; Ken Trout, National Aquarium board chair; Tom Brady, board member; Dave Pittenger, aquarium executive director; Kathy Sher, aquarium deputy director; Mary Pat Seurkamp, president of Notre Dame College of Maryland; Bill Fine, WBAL-TV president and general manager; Dr. Rosetta Stith, Paquin School director; Dick Ruess, partner at Metrobuilt, LC; Lisa Shea, Northrop Grumman human resource generalist; Dr. Mike Wise, aquarium veterinary consultant; Hugh Mohler, Bay National Bank president; Dr. Betty Morgan, Baltimore schools chief academic officer; Bill White, Motley Fool director of sales; Attison Barnes, partner at Gardner Carton & Douglas; Nancy Hinds, Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association director of communications; Toba Barth, Theatrical Arts Productions director of education; and Marc Kantrowitz, Chevy Chase Bank Challenge managing director.

Staff of the National Aquarium in Baltimore will be in Ocean City tomorrow for the Annual Maryland Dolphin Count and they're looking for volunteers to join them. The count takes place 9 a.m. to noon Friday, along the beach at 40th Street and at 130th Street, where you can join the aquarium in sighting the dolphins off the coast. Aquarium staff will also be stationed at Assateague State Park (Day Use Area). Volunteers who can spend a few hours on the beach watching the water and filling out data sheets are welcome at all three locations, where the groups will be divided into teams of counters.

The National Aquarium's eight dolphins are no longer a show unto themselves. After two decades of dramatic leaps and crowd-pleasing stunts, aquarium officials are eliminating the 20-minute dolphin shows in favor of a more open-ended exhibit. Beginning Friday, aquarium visitors will be able to visit the dolphin amphitheater throughout the day and interact with trainers. Instead of charging a separate admission price for the dolphin show, the aquarium is raising general admission ticket prices.

Having just spent a very busy weekend with adorable, 4-year-old twin girls who were visiting with my nephew, I was extremely interested in the sight-seeing tips from Jill Smokler, the Baltimore-based Scary Mommy blogger who recently released "Confessions of a Scary Mommy. " Smokler provided the Baltimore Sun with her Top Five best -- and worst -- places to take the kids . I missed all of them over the weekend, instead falling back on the National Aquarium , which I've found to be a very entertaining, if very expensive, spot for kids of all ages.

The National Aquarium in Baltimore 's Inner Harbor is redesigning its dolphin show — and its admission prices. Beginning May 4, the "timed, limited-access and separately priced [dolphin] shows" will be eliminated and replaced by all-day access to the dolphins and their trainers, according to a statement released Thursday by the aquarium. Along with the new dolphin show format, the aquarium is increasing its base admission price to $29.95 for adults and $20.95 for children.

Events for 2012 are starting to pop up in the inbox. This one got our attention. The National Aquarium's ongoing series of Fresh Thoughts dinners resumes on Jan. 24 with Chad Wells, who will be presenting a menu of invasive species from Maryland waters, including crab, blue catfish and snakehead. Wells has honchoed a few of these invasive-species dinners already -- at his own Alewife , at the Creative Alliance and at an all-star October benefit for the Oyster Recovery Partnership at Rockfish in Annapolis Tickets for the Fresh Thoughts dinner with Chad Wells at the National Aquarium are $89. The evening begins with a cocktail reception and cooking demonstration, followed by a four-course dinner featuring a Maryland blue crab appetizer , a "Frankenfish Taco," and a deconstructed paella with smoked Chesapeake gold oyster and seared blue catfish.

Sea-inspired melodies are helping efforts to give terminally ill children, disabled veterans and other special-needs groups glimpses of aquatic life at the National Aquarium in Baltimore . Musician Greg Pierce is donating $5 from every sale of "Sea Notes," his CD with eight instrumental compositions, one of which is the background for the aquarium's popular "Jellies Invasion: Oceans Out of Balance" exhibit. Photographer David Simpson, whose cover shot for the album has been reproduced on a poster, is also donating $5 from every poster sold to a program that helps the aquarium honor requests for a no-charge look at its exhibits.

What an embarrassment to those who seek elected office in Baltimore - a mere 12 percent of eligible citizens voted on Tuesday. With all the hours, all the door-to-door footwork these politicians (and prospective politicians) put into seeking political office, this is a slap in the face. How many city voters didn't realize there was an election going on until after it passed? To the non-voting whiners who pout the first time they have a disagreement with a local politician, I say, you are the epitome of hypocrisy.

Scientists from the National Aquarium and the Johns Hopkins University say they've found low but potentially harmful levels of toxic oil contaminants in the Gulf of Mexico months after the Deepwater Horizon well blowout was capped. Erik Rifkin, interim executive director of the aquarium's conservation center, and Yongseok Hong, a post-doctoral fellow at Hopkins, say that using devices that mimic the way fish absorb contaminants in their environment, they've detected oil-related chemical compounds on the Louisiana coast that traditional water sampling methods mostly missed.

Columbia resident Sarah Thorne , a University of Delaware junior majoring in pre-veterinary medicine and animal biosciences, and agriculture and natural resources, participated two internships this summer. She shadowed veterinarians at the USDA Veterinary Services Research Center, in Beltsville, worked at the National Aquarium in Baltimore in the Australia Exhibit with the aviculturists.