Fort Fisher Aquarium By Gray D. Robertson There's little relief for beachgoers who hope to escape the scorching sun and sand for a few hours by going inside the conservatory at the North Carolina Aquarium. The atrium is regularly sprayed with water mists, which -- combined with the clear canopy overhead -- makes the half-acre site feel like humid Cape Fear River wetlands rather than a man-made exhibit hall on the Atlantic coastline. But that's what makes the new freshwater exhibits at the Fort Fisher aquarium so inviting -- and intriguing. "The space is allowed to get cold in the winter and warm in the summer," aquarium spokesman Bob Roush says. The conservatory -- stocked with snakes, alligators and carnivorous plants -- and a new 285,000-gallon saltwater tank teeming with sharks and moray eels highlight the expanded aquarium. A hands-on station for children, engaging aquatic scenery and a kaleidoscope of underwater species also are helping the aquarium smash yearly attendance records -- more than 400,000 people since the March 22 reopening. "It's bigger and more modern," says Karen Gutmann of Aiken, S.C., who took her daughters, Dana and Rachel, to the aquarium the first time nine years ago. The family -- Dana and Rachel are now teenagers -- gave the latest version a thumbs-up on a recent return visit. "It was interesting for them then, and it's interesting to them now," Gutmann says. "It's a nice way to spend an afternoon at the beach." The Fort Fisher attraction is one of three state-run aquariums, two of which have been expanded over the past 21/2 years. The aquarium on Roanoke Island reopened with an Outer Banks theme and its own freshwater conservatory in 2000. An expansion is pending at the Pine Knoll Shores aquarium to highlight inland aquatic habitats. The aquariums opened in 1976 with a focus on research but over the years have turned their attention toward educating students on field trips and families looking for a diversion from sunburn and surf. "The children are excited by the touch tanks and to see up close everything from sharks to rays and colorful fishes," says Rhett White, the state aquariums director. "They have an equal appeal to adults as well." The Fort Fisher aquarium, on U.S. 421 south of Kure Beach just past the Civil War sand fortification, grew from 30,000 to 93,000 square feet with the expansion. The number of species, once at 500, will ultimately increase to about 3,000. You're likely to be welcomed by seagulls as you approach the aquarium's entrance. The new conservatory fronts what used to be the main aquarium building, now home to the saltwater aquatic exhibits. Children push their noses against the glass of an elevated pool to see sturgeon, perch and carp swim above a waterfall, symbolizing the Cape Fear River falling from the Piedmont into the Coastal Plain. Heading "downstream" in the conservatory, you're met by predatory fish such as long- nose gars and channel catfish. There's a moment when the river venue seems quite real. Walk along a patch of greenery, and you pass insect-eating pitcher plants and Venus fly traps growing on the ground, unprotected by glass and ready to scarf down a beetle. A few steps later, you're glad a wall separates you from the reality of baby alligators at the most popular station in the freshwater area.Visitors watch as alligators receive their daily feeding of fish, chicken -- or the occasional mouse. The saltwater exhibit area can be plodding at first if you don't want to get wet, although parents and children enjoy the touch tank, where calico box crabs, whelks and starfish can be held. The wave-machine tank re-creates the rocky coquina outcrop about a mile north along the Atlantic. But soon you're ushered into the saltwater showplace, the Cape Fear Shoals ocean habitat. The tank -- 14 times larger than the largest pre-expansion tank --is 24 feet tall and contains more than 300 fish. While the colorful coral and plant life are fake -- brought to you by a Wilmington movie-set design company -- the sandbar sharks and moray eels are quite real. So, it's a little startling at first to see Janie McGregor, 17, give a presentation inside the tank. A diver for 12 years, McGregor calmly takes questions from an afternoon audience by using an underwater microphone. "Sharks are always the biggest thing people watching ask me about," McGregor said later. "People want to know about them and ask if I'm scared. They're not out there to eat people." McGregor is one of dozens of volunteers at North Carolina Aquariums who help it operate smoothly during a state budget crisis and fulfill its education mission. Each of the aquariums offers classes and programs, including crabbing, canoeing or surfing. Fort Fisher started a weeklong summer camp this year, while teachers can be trained to perform aquatic and environmental experiments back in their classrooms. Although he's visited larger aquariums elsewhere, one first- timer says he and has family liked the regional flavor of Fort Fisher. "Just for what it is, it's very nice," says James Priddy of Baton Rouge, La. "It caters toward the local environment."

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