TACOMA, Wash. — If you've never thought a grouper could be cuddly, maybe you've never met Tater.
"He is a potato grouper, " Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium deputy director Sarah Oliver said. "He has sort of a calm personality, just drifts around, checking everything out and he's a real favorite of everyone here."
Tater is just one of the attractions of The Tropical Reef Aquarium, which was extensively revamped in a $7 million renovation that took two and a half years. Much of the money was spent on critical repairs and improved life support systems for animals. But that's not all.
"The guest experience is completely refreshed," Oliver said. "It's like taking a little mini vacation on a tropical beach."
The Tropical Shallows habitat offers visitors a chance to get up close to marine life.
"And we have all kinds of little invertebrates. star fish, little shrimp (called cleaner shrimp), that crawl up onto your hand they explore you," Oliver said.
In the Blue Hole habitat colorful coral reefs provide places for tropical fish to hide.
"A lot of us won't ever have the opportunity to go snorkeling on a Pacific island but here you can really have that experience," Oliver said.
Finally, there are five species of sharks living in the outer reef exhibit, where Eye-to-Eye Shark Dives, the program that has connected over 22,000 thousand people to sharks and their conservation, will reopen later this summer with improvements. Including a new and improved diving space within the Outer Reef habitat that increases the comfort factor for both sharks and humans.
"The community helped to fund this renewal of the aquarium and yes, we are expecting lots of people to come and see what we are so excited about reopening this aquarium," Oliver said.
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