The grand opening of Halifax’s first aquarium was a big success, according to the CEO of the Discovery Centre, Dov Bercovici.
The Beaty Centre for Marine Biodiversity opened on the Dalhousie University campus December 6. It is a research facility that focuses on marine life native to our local waters.
Photo: Dov Bercovici
Bercovici tells our newsroom they had about 1,000 visitors last Saturday and Sunday – 500 for each day.
“I waited outside. I was listening to some of the comments from the parents to the children and the children back to the parents,” says Bercovici.
“Everyone said they loved it, and they wanted to come back and felt they may have rushed it. When it’s your first time, you get excited.”
Others, he said, took their time taking it all in.
“There were others that really lingered and were actually drawing art, drawing pictures of the species in the tanks and contemplating what they were watching,” adds Bercovici. “It’s really about our ocean, how we can save species, what’s under the water and so on.”
Some of the standouts
There are 30 exhibits.
Some of the species, according to Bercovici, are intriguing to people because they are something they’ve never seen before like a sea raven.
“It’s part of the sculpin family and looks very much like a sculpin but they’re quite a bright colour,” says Bercovici.
He says they can be red but come in different colours and shade and look like a gargoyle.
There are also sea plants, anemones and other creatures but the star of the show is the 18-metre, blue whale skeleton suspended in the atrium.
Photo: Dov Bercovici
As for the future, Bercovici says, they’d love to have more storytelling with marine biology and ocean experts.
“This is truly about a rich, fun, educational experience. You go away learning something and the kids become ambassadors of different species,” explains Bercovici.
He says, over the years, the species will be constantly changing.
“I could watch some of these creatures all day, because they’re so intriguing.”
