Underwater World

Live fish at the Mall? Sure - if the mall you're visiting is the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This exhibit doesn't limit itself to saltwater either, as most public aquariums do. Two of its four exhibits are entirely freshwater habitats, and a third is partly freshwater. A total of 1.2 million gallons of water is home to over 8,000 species of fish, reptiles, and other aquatic life. A 300 foot acrylic tunnel allows visitors to be surrounded by the watery exhibits as they progress through the exhibit on a moving walkway. The freshwater portions of the exhibit centers on Minnesota, and include specimens from nearly half of Minnesotas 135 native fish species.

I found the $9.95 admission fee for adults ($7.95 for children, $8.95 for Seniors) to be worth the price. There were no guides, instead visitors are provided with a sensor-controlled tape player called the "Gallery Guide". Accompanying the Gallery Guide is a colorful pictorial called the "Dive Guide", which is yours to keep. The unit was tape quite sophisticated, and presented a verbal tour that was triggered by sensors along the course of the exhibit. In addition to the canned tour, there was detailed information about 53 different inhabitants of the exhibit, as well as a dozen other topics. One could easily spend an hour just listening to all the topics available, and I was quite impressed with the depth of information provided.

Being well versed in breaking things I quickly discovered a weakness in the sensor driven system. It was designed assuming the visitor would always move forward through the exhibit. Woe unto you if you backtrack very far, because the sensor became confused and caused the tape to get out of sync with your true location. Made me think of parking lots with one way spiked exit plates designed to deflate your tires if you backed up! Families with children were the ones most likely to be snagged by the glitch, because the children often ran back and forth through the exhibit (then become upset when their tape units got out of sync). Should that happen, head for the live attendants at the beginning of the tour. They are well versed in resetting the guide units.

The tour starts with Minnesota Dawn, which centers on the aquatic life in and along the streams and ponds of Northern Minnesota. The design of the exhibit includes low lights, lots of vegetation, a small rock waterfall, and fog drifting through the air, to give visitors the feel of strolling in the wilds of Minnesota.

Included are two ponds - The Lily Pond, which is home to Black Crappie, Bluegill Sunfish, Painted Turtle, Red-Eared Slider Turtle, and the Mississippi Map Turtle.

The Sunfish Pond, which is home to blue gills, red breasted sunfish, long-ear sunfish, green sunfish, and pumpkinseeds, is a fishermans delight.

Fisherman will also enjoy the Trout Stream, which is home to Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, and Brook Trout (no fishing poles allowed - so don't get any ideas!).

The kids will love the Critter Log, home to a Fox Snake, Toads, and Tiger Salamanders Be sure to listen to the Gallery Guide info on specific fish as you go along.

At the end of the Minnesota Dawn, visitors step onto a slowly moving walkway that takes them into the 300 foot acrylic tunnel. From this point on they are literally surrounded by water. Minnesota Lake is the first of the tunnel exhibits. It focuses on freshwater lake inhabitants such as: Lake Sturgeon, Shovelnose Sturgeon, American Eel, Northern Pike, Carp, Black Crappie, and Freshwater Drum. The fish swim lazily up the glass and over the visitors heads, providing everyone a chance to look at them up close.

Moving farther down the Mississippi River , the exhibit transitions from freshwater to saltwater. In this portion of the exhibit you'll see Long-nose Gar, Short-nose Gar, Spotted Gar, Alligator Gar, Blue Sucker, White Bass, and Striped Bass. The Dive Guide provides plenty of detailed profiles about the fish in the exhibit, and I'd recommend stepped off the moving walkway to listen to them all.

A large steamboat paddle wheel lends to the sense of moving towards the Gulf of Mexico. Comprised of 600,000 gallon of saltwater, this display contains one of the largest populations of sharks in the Midwest. Children find this part of the exhibit particularly exciting because the sharks swim right over your head. Some of the specimens you'll see are: sand tiger sharks, sand bar (brown) sharks, southern stingrays, small tooth sawfish, nurse sharks, black tip sharks, Loggerhead sea turtle, Kemp's Ridley sea turtle, Red Grouper, Permit, Horse-eye Jack, Lookdown, and Gray Triggerfish. The Gallery Guide has detailed profiles for over a dozen fish, so don't get so caught up in the exhibit that you forget to listen to them.

Following the Gulf of Mexico is the Caribbean Reef - an absolutely stunning display of a coral reef. You simply must step off the walkway and spend some time watching so you see the incredible variety of creatures here. If you are lucky you'll see Queen Angelfish, French Angelfish, Grey Angelfish, Blue Tangs, Pinfish, Grunts, Porkfish, Sergeant Major, Blue Chromis, Purple Reef Fish, Creole-fish, Hogfish, Squirrelfish, Porcupine fish, Whitespotted Filefish, Trippletail, and a large Green Moray Eel (very exciting to the youngsters).

At the end of the Caribbean Reef is the Live Coral exhibit that includes: Brain Corals, Large & Small Polyped Stony Corals, Bubble Coral, Flower Pot Coral, Elegance Coral, Leather Corals, Soft Corals, Colonial and Star Polyps, Mushroom Anemones, Mushroom Polyps, Elephant Ear, Featherdusters, Scarlet-Striped Cleaner Shrimp, Bangaii Cardinalfish, Mandarin Goby, Orange-spotted Goby, and the Clown fish. Even though I'm a freshwater fan, I have to admit this part of the exhibit mesmerized me! (For more information about corals and saltwater fish, check out the Saltwater Aquarium site here at the Mining Company.)

The tour closes with a delightful "Touch Pool" that children and adults can both enjoy. There you can actually touch Sea Stars, Mollusks, Lobsters, Horseshoe Crabs, Urchins and other creatures. All the specimens in the touch exhibit are safe to handle without fear of being bitten.

In the same room with the Touch Pool are several tanks containing interesting oddities that are definitely worth taking time to stop and view. This is a great exhibit that I'd recommend to freshwater and saltwater fans alike. Be sure to give yourself plenty of time to fully enjoy it.

* Art and photos are the property of Shirlie Sharpe. If you use them please write for permission.