Spiraling Look into the Sea

Boston is no longer the home of the cod, but it now has something else piscatorial to be proud of. On an abandoned wharf once used by New England's sorely depressed fishing industry, an impressive new structure overlooks the harbor. It is the $6,500,000 concrete-and-glass home of the New England Aquarium, which has finally opened its doors after more than a decade of planning and problems. The wait was worth it. Boston's undersea museum may be the prototype aquarium of the future. At the very least, it is a stunning symbol of man's vastly increased interest in the sea.

Jackass Penguins. Bathed in soft blue-green light, the five-story building's cavernous interior immediately evokes images of the world of water. Its 75 exhibits represent the full range of environments--fresh and salt, from arctic to tropic. Most of the ground floor is occupied by a large freshwater pool, swarming with such fish as gars, carps, catfish and sturgeons. It also contains an open enclave where several otters frolic in and out of the water. A few steps away are the first of 70 small tanks containing such varied and intriguing species as the colorful little clownfish, the horned cowfish and the ferocious piranha. Appropriately, the back panels of these tanks are curved since the fish swim in circular paths.

As the visitor ascends the rectangular ramps along the aquarium's walls, he passes the abodes of other amusing creatures: penguins. One species on display in the mock Antarctic environment is the so-called jackass penguin (named for its harsh bray). Proceeding upward, the visitor brushes past a large and almost frightening mural covered with life-size silhouettes of sharks. He joins the youngsters at the children's tidal pool --where they are encouraged to reach in and touch starfish, tiny crabs and harmless sea urchins. Finally, as he approaches the highest level, he walks under an awesome 35-foot-long skeleton of an Atlantic right whale.*

The aquarium's most impressive feature is the giant, four-story-high cylindrical tank that sits in the center of the building. Billed as the world's largest glass-walled fish tank, it holds 200,000 gallons of sea water filled with small sharks, sea turtles, moray eels and dozens of other creatures that dodge in and out of a huge simulated reef. The visitor can peer into the tank either through a vatlike opening at the top or through the glass walls as he walks down the curving ramps that surround it. The layout is so unorthodox that it seems more like an undersea version of Frank Lloyd Wright's spiral-shaped Guggenheim Museum in New York than the traditional aquarium of low-slung rectangular tanks.

Lonely Turtles. Designed by a youthful Boston area architectural firm, Cambridge Seven Associates, the aquarium had to overcome more than its share of construction and operating problems. Indeed, for a while, Bostonians wondered whether their town had built the world's largest sieve. After the aquarium's completion last June, the huge tank leaked like a badly punctured tire. After plugging the leaks, the aquarium staff discovered that aluminum bolts holding the glass frames were slowly dissolving (reason: they touched the concrete skeleton's steel reinforcing rods, thereby producing a bad case of electrolysis). Next, the complex dual-filtration system, which provides both salt and fresh water, began backing up, allowing sand to seep into the main tank. In addition, almost every fitting along 1 1/2 miles of tubing had to be replaced, and the intake pipes that bring in water from Boston Harbor had to be repaired. The final misfortune occurred shortly before last January's formal dedication. Malfunctioning butterfly valves in the pumps created so much turbulence that only four hardy turtles could be allowed to occupy the huge central tank.

Now the turtles are no longer alone. The concatenation of crises has apparently ended, and the aquarium's patient staff members have finally been able to stock their main attraction. They have also managed to fill other parts of the building: more than 500,000 visitors have flocked to the wharf since opening day. With continued luck--and sturdy pumps and pipes--the New England Aquarium should turn into one of the finest showplaces of its kind anywhere above sea level.

* A name given baleen or toothless whales by Yankee whalers who considered them "right" because they were easier to catch, yielded more oil and would not sink when tied alongside a ship.

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