Newport Aquarium adding Hatchling Harbor, new exhibit slated to open in March

Emily DeLetter, Cincinnati Enquirer
·1 min read
The Newport Aquarium will open Hatchling Harbor in March. The 25-foot Caribbean seagrass habitat that will be a new ecosystem with hundreds of colorful animals, many of them babies.
The Newport Aquarium will open Hatchling Harbor in March. The 25-foot Caribbean seagrass habitat that will be a new ecosystem with hundreds of colorful animals, many of them babies.

A new exhibit focused on young sea life is coming to the Newport Aquarium.

Hatchling Harbor, a 25-foot Caribbean seagrass habitat, is slated to open in the aquarium on March 3. Among the longest tanks in the aquarium, the exhibit will be a new ecosystem home to hundreds of colorful animals, many of them babies.

Hatchling Harbor will be home to various animals, including the scrawled filefish, lobsters, crabs, conchs and urchins.

A school of young parrotfish will also make their home in Hatchling Harbor. The fish use their bird-like beaks to crunch corals in search of the algae they feed on, which makes sand. An estimated 70% of the white sandy beaches in the Caribbean are created by parrotfish, and seagrasses also capture carbon dioxide from the air 35 times faster than rainforests making them an important tool in fighting climate change, according to the aquarium.

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The Newport Aquarium will open Hatchling Harbor in March. The 25-foot Caribbean seagrass habitat that will be a new ecosystem with hundreds of colorful animals, many of them babies.
The Newport Aquarium will open Hatchling Harbor in March. The 25-foot Caribbean seagrass habitat that will be a new ecosystem with hundreds of colorful animals, many of them babies.

According to the aquarium, seagrass meadows provide shelter and protection for a variety of life. Many animals lay their eggs in the habitat, so the young can benefit from protection and food from the grasses and rocky outcrops covered in corals.

“We work hard to make sure we’re taking guests ‘beyond the glass’ when we create a new exhibit,” Rebecca Foster, Newport Aquarium’s executive director, said in a release. “You can better connect with the animals if you really feel like you’re with them in the environment where they live.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Newport Aquarium adding new exhibit Hatchling Harbor in March