New exhibit “Changing Tides” coming soon to Mississippi Aquarium

GULFPORT, Miss. (WLOX) – Changing Tides is getting ready to open on August 25th at the Mississippi Aquarium.

Aquarium President and CEO Kurt Allen said staff is working hard to get the building ready for opening day.

“This building has been transformed into 25 new exhibits. Everything from Octopus to seahorses to sloths, tarantulas, and warm water tropical fish,” Allen said. “It’s really an adventure into what we call biomes. People are going to come in and I think they’ll be amazed to see what we have done to transform this.”

As you walk into the building, you will stumble across the rainforest where a two-toed sloth, tortoise, and armadillo will soon call home.

“We listen to feedback from our customers, and we get suggestions all the time. Some of the top ones were Octopus and seahorses, and we have sloths, but we don’t bring them out often, so this gives us a chance to bring them out front so we can interact with our customers,” Allen said.

There is also an Octopus Den and a Coral Reef. Each has tunnels where kids get a closer look at the animals.

“In the Octopus habitat kids can crawl in and get face to face with the octopus. There’s a cute little coral tunnel that they can crawl through. It’s adding something that the kids will be able to interact with,” Allen said.

The building will also have a grab-and-go making it easy for people to avoid long lines.

“From our feedback, people want more. They always want more, more, and more. Now we are giving them 20 plus new exhibits. We are really hitting what our customers are looking for,” Allen said.

The aquarium will have a ribbon-cutting ceremony to welcome the exhibit on August 24th.

Along with news of the new exhibits the aquarium announced its free Pre-K annual pass will be available online starting Monday. The pass will allow all kids ages 3-5 to be registered for a free annual pass.

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