NEWS & ANOUNCEMENTS
NOV
19
HOLIDAY TREE LIGHTING CELEBRATION
SANTA'S COMING TO GARDNER'S BASIN
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6
LOTS OF FUN FOR EVERYONE!
Festivities start at 3:00 PM with TREE TRIMMING
SANTA & his helpers arrive on the fire truck at 4:00 PM (Bring your camera for photos)
TREE LIGHTING at 5:30 PM
Free Popcorn, Cookies, Hot Chocolate, Hot Cider and Candy Canes
Restaurant Specials * Visit Merchants and Crafters for discounts & free gift wrapping
Sponsored by Historic Gardner's Basin and the Merchants of Gardner's Basin
NOV
14
Atlantic City Aquarium Toy/Food Drive
The Atlantic City Aquarium is offering one free child (ages 4-12) admission or one 1/2 price adult admission, per toy donation for visitors. Bring a new unwrapped toy and non-perishable food item to the aquarium between November 15 and December 15, 2008 and receive one free or discounted admission to the aquarium, per toy donation. New toys will be distributed to the Atlantic City Rescue Mission and food donations will be given to the Community Food Bank of New Jersey. Help the employees of the Atlantic City Aquarium give back this holiday season!
OCT
30
Dive into the Aquarium
Atlantic City
Weekends this Winter
The Atlantic City Aquarium is offering our Live Diver Feeding Show on
Saturday’s and Sunday’s at 11:00 AM throughout the winter
“Dive and Dine” features the aquarium’s diver in the 25,000 gallon “Fish of the Mid-Atlantic” tank. Audiences can watch and interact with the diver as she hand-feeds cownose rays, swims with nurse sharks, and dives with dogfish in the tank. Participants also have the opportunity to interact with the diver asking questions during the show. This underwater picnic is included with paid admission to the aquarium. The feeding show lasts approximately 20 minutes with a question and answer session afterward.
While visiting the aquarium be sure to stay around for the Shark & Ray feedings at our second floor shark and ray touch tank. Feedings daily at 12 and 3pm and our Exotic animal show at 2:00 pm (Saturday’s & Sunday’s only).
Don’t forget the aquarium is the perfect place to host your next birthday party, holiday party or special event. Call 609-348-2880 ext. 17 for more information.
Admission: Adults: $7, children ages 4-12: $4, children under three are free and seniors pay $5. For more information on the other Atlantic City Aquarium programs and exhibits, visit www.acaquarium.com or call 609 348-2880.
HOPE TO SEE YOU AT THE
*Show subject to cancellation without advance notice.
OCT
15
SUPER WEEKENDS
Every Saturday and Sunday...
11:00 am - Live Dive Show
12:00 and 3:00 pm – Feeding of shark and rays at touch tank
2:00 pm – Live exotic animal show
OCT
12
BAT RAYS AND SHOVEL NOSE SHARKS
Check Out the Newest Arrivals to the Shark and Stingray Touch tank
At the
The tank is open all day from 10 until 5pm and feedings are at noon and three pm daily.
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The Shovelnose Guitarfish is a guitar-shaped ray with a broad disc that is greater in length than width; a relatively smooth dorsal surface except for a single row of thorns around the eyes and extending along the back and tail; a long, pointed snout with a rounded tip; small, rounded, pebble-like teeth; a first dorsal fin that originates closer to the pelvic fin base than to the caudal fin origin; a thick tail; and a moderately large caudal fin without a distinct lower lobe. The color ranges from an olive to sandy brown above, but without prominent dark bars across the back, and white below.
HABITAT AND RANGE: Shovelnose Guitarfishes are a shallow-water species commonly found at a depth of 1 to 13 m, although they may be found at depths down to 91 m. They usually lie partially buried on sandy or mud bottoms but occasionally are observed in sea grass beds. These rays will at times congregate in large numbers in shallow bays and estuaries. The Shovelnose Guitarfish is endemic to the eastern Pacific, ranging from
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Bat rays swim gracefully by flapping their batlike wings (pectoral fins) bird style—a feature that gives these rays their common name and their family name, “eagle rays.” They are found in muddy and sandy bottom bays, kelp forests and close to coral reefs.
Those batlike wings also serve in the hunt for food. Bat rays flap their pectoral fins in the sand to expose buried prey, like clams. Rays also use their lobelike snouts to dig prey from sandy bottoms. The resulting pit can be up to 13 feet (4 m) long and eight inches (20 cm) deep—an important source of “leftover” small prey for fishes that can’t dig. Bat rays have one to three venomous barbed spines at the base of their long tails, but these docile animals sting only to defend themselves.
Bat ray teeth are fused into plates that can crush the strongest clam shells. The rays crush the entire clam, or other mollusks, inside their mouths, spit out the shells, and then eat the soft, fleshy parts. If a tooth breaks or wears out, a new one replaces it. Rays grow new teeth continuously, like their shark kin.
JUL
01
NEW TROPICAL RAINFOREST EXHIBIT
The Rainforest display includes multiple sections depicting different enviornments and animals. An abandoned shack within a section of rainforest features animals found in rainforests around the world. There is a pond that holds a Matamata Turtle and various cichlids, a group of fishes commonly found in rainforest regions. The two touch tanks contain freshwater rays native to the Amazon, while the other has Amazonian Prawn. The last two sections of the display feature a variety of small rainforest creatures, including poison dart frogs.