$14-Million Aquarium to Be Unveiled in La Jolla

LA JOLLA — Don has begun waking up at 2:30 a.m., panicked about catching more fish.

Bob is still looking for a few good rocks.

And Harvey hasn’t arrived.

The first two have less than a week left to ready the new Stephen Birch Aquarium-Museum, a $14-million facility with a man-made tide pool--replete with small waves--and a spectacular panoramic view of the coast. Harvey is blase.

The 100-pound grouper has not gotten into the swim of things. He’s still in his home at the old aquarium, which is about one-third the size of the new facility.

On Sept. 16, Scripps Institution of Oceanography will open the much-ballyhooed new aquarium, which officials say is a dramatic leap forward from the existing one. The new UC San Diego facility will hold 1,500 more fish, 96,000 more gallons of seawater in display tanks, and feature a museum and an education center with two classrooms.

Walking through the corridors is like taking a voyage through the waters and reefs of the Pacific Northwest, California, Mexico, and the South Pacific, where Scripps scientists have launched research expeditions.

Each of the 33 tanks will offer an array of often brightly colored and oddly shaped fish, including the pink-red, cigar-shaped wrasses and the blue-green pointy-nosed filefish that look as if they swam right out of a Dr. Seuss book, the sinister-looking but benign moray eels, and the venomous yellow and brown lionfish.

Sitting on a two-acre site half a mile above the La Jolla coastline, the aquarium-museum is substantially larger and more glamorous than the old cramped Scripps aquarium, but this is no Sea World. Don’t expect people dressed as penguins to greet you. The mission of the Scripps facility is educational.

“Its purpose is to attract people who wish to learn more about the oceans,” said Donald Wilkie, director of the aquarium. “This is not designed to be a tourist attraction, though tourists will certainly be a portion of our visitors. But this is aimed more toward people with an interest in oceans and ocean research.”

The giant kelp forest is the dramatic centerpiece for the new facility. This 16-foot deep, 50,000-gallon tank sports a 21-by-13-foot acrylic viewing wall, which--weighing in at 10 tons--is one of the largest of its kind. Designers used underwater photographs to craft an exhibit that looks just like the area around La Jolla.

Artificial rock, composed of concrete with carefully etched lines, imitates the underwater layered rock cliffs. Last week, the kelp forest was not fully planted but several long strands of kelp waved in the water. The tank was uninhabited, but soon vividly colored garibaldis, senoritas, sheepheads, giant black sea bass and moray eels will call it home.

To fill this tank and others, Scripps divers are still foraging for likely candidates. In recent days, some divers believe they have noticed baby fish gathering at the end of the pier.

“We joke that they are waiting for us to catch them so they can live their lives in the lap of luxury,” said Bob Snodgrass, an associate aquarium curator.

Meanwhile, Snodgrass is also looking for suitable algae-covered rocks for the tide pool, which is perched on an expansive veranda overlooking the sea.

“Only good rocks need apply,” he said.

In full swing, the tide pool will be filled with mussels, starfish, surf grass (also known as eel grass) and zebra perch.

For almost a century, Scripps Institution of Oceanography has operated an aquarium. The current antiquated facility, in use for more than 40 years, closed its doors on Labor Day.

Most of the fish will be transported this week to their new homes. And no one is quite sure how all the fish will take to their new environments.

The new facility will be more spacious, a bonus for big fish like Harvey. In the old aquarium, the largest tank held 2,000 gallons of seawater. In the new aquarium, the biggest tank holds 50,000 gallons.

But moving fish wasn’t the only chore that remained unfinished last week. Frenzy reigned in the expansive halls of the aquarium and museum as workers scurried to assemble an exhibit of a submarine, paint the planets on a wall and clean the tanks.

“My greatest sense is one of anxiety: Are we going to get all this work done?” asked Wilkie. “You worry about the money. You worry about the construction. You worry about the exhibits. After it opens, you worry about attendance--you don’t want too much and you don’t want too little.”

During the first year, Scripps officials expect 500,000 visitors, or 150,000 more than at the old facility.

“We’ve had a small aquarium here for many, many years and the local people have a feeling of ownership: they bring their visitors, their children, and their grandmothers,” said Ed Frieman, director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Now, “That little aquarium is going to be no more--it’s become this huge enterprise.”

But for now, never mind that. Bob needs a few good rocks.