As the nurse sharks swim gracefully over the gently rolling sandy bottom, red snapper, tarpon, scamp, mackerel, dolphin fish, red drum and other open water fish stay away from the slowly circling black-tipped sharks. At nearly 300 pounds, Gordon clearly dominates all, even the very large nurse sharks in the tank. He flaps his fins slowly and from his position at the front of the tank stares back at amazed onlookers. Coastal Marsh Exhibit A salt marsh is the first area encountered when visiting the beach and is the first aquaria visitors see. The 1,000-gallon aquarium with a window more than 14 feet long opens onto a section of coastal salt marsh.
Natural debris covers the muddy floor which is dotted with oyster and clam shells.
Visitors observe croaker, pompano, mojarra, whiting, killifish and other organisms in their natural habitat. At the Coastal Bay Aquarium, visitors view species such as red drum, hardhead catfish, spotted seatrout, and black drum cruising through 2,200 gallons of water over a sand, mud and oyster reef bottom. Jetty A 5,000-gallon jetty exhibit nearly fills the back wall of the center. Barnacles, periwinkle, and other shelled animals encrust wooden pilings and moray eels inhabit rocks that spill across the bottom while finfish like sergeant majors, snook, tarpon and eels hover among the pilings. Artificial Reef Tarpon, crevalle jack, pompano, and spot swim in the 5,000-gallon artificial reef exhibit.