The North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher, located at Kure Beach near Wilmington, is dedicated to educating tourists about the seas of the Cape Fear region. The aquarium is open year round. Listed as one of the top ten attractions in North Carolina by the Travel Channel, the aquarium was recently recognized among the best aquariums in the country by the magazine Travel + Leisure.

Freshwater life can be found at the Cape Fear Conservatory, which is the first stop for visitors to the aquarium. Streams, ponds, and swamps may be found in this huge, tree-filled atrium, where frogs, snakes, bass, catfish, and perch can be found. Box turtles can be found hiding amid the groundcover at the Conservatory.

The American alligators, which are endemic to North Carolina, are housed in one of the Conservatory’s biggest exhibits. In 2009, a new albino alligator exhibit opened its doors. It wasn’t until 2006 that the aquarium unveiled an exhibit dedicated to the venomous snakes of the region, which included many different species of rattlesnake as well as copperheads and cottonmouths.

A hands-on experience with sea urchins, horseshoe crabs, whelks, and other species of the Coquina Outcrop Touch Pool is part of the Coastal Waters Gallery’s interactive exhibit, which also contains the Coquina Outcrop Touch Pool. In addition to the fishes that may be found along a wave-washed rock jetty, the Masonboro Inlet Jetty also has an indoor salt marsh, a sea horse habitat, and a loggerhead marine turtle display.

Sharkstooth Ledge is featured in the Open Oceans Gallery, and it has fish that are common to the waters off the coast of North Carolina, such as pufferfish, hogfish, and filefish. Octopus, jellyfish, and corals that are native to the state’s waters are also on show in the gallery. Megalodon, an extinct whale-eating shark, is the star of a new multimedia suite released by the National Geographic Society. It features projections on a 23-foot curved screen as well as interactive holograms and touch-screen interfaces, all of which were unveiled on July 1, 2011.

Its saltwater display, Cape Fear Shoals, has a capacity of 235,000 US gallons (890,000 l; 196,000 imp gal) and is the largest of the aquarium’s saltwater exhibits. The 24-foot-deep (7.3-meter-deep) recreation of an offshore reef provides two-story, multi-level views of huge sharks, stingrays, groupers, and moray eels, as well as other marine life.

The Exotic Aquatics Display showcases species that are indigenous to the Indo-Pacific and other oceanic regions of the world. Spiny lobsters, the red lionfish, and the spotted scorpionfish, which is a North Carolina native, are among the animals on show.

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