With open flippers
New England Aquarium reopens after four months
Four months after the coronavirus pandemic forced it to close its doors to the public, the New England Aquarium is open again, with Myrtle the turtle, Rudy the octopus and 20,000 other animals ready to welcome visitors back.
“This is our mission: We connect people to animals and to conservation,” said Leigh Clayton, vice president of animal care. “We’re really excited to get back to that.”
The aquarium will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. beginning today, at just under 15% occupancy, or about 240 visitors plus staff at any given time, with oneway guest flow through the building.
Everyone in the aquarium will be required to wear a mask, hand sanitizer will be available in each gallery, and penguin decals will be on the floor to remind visitors to keep at least 6 feet apart.
To help ensure social distancing, live presentations also have been suspended. And to prevent people from touching things, the Edge of the Sea Touch Tank, the Science of Sharks exhibits, the Simons Theatre, the photo station and the cafe all will be closed.
“It’s our guiding light: to keep everyone safe,” Clayton said. “The experience will be unique because it will be much less crowded than usual. We think it will be wonderful to see the aquarium this way.”
The aquarium closed its doors to the public on March 13 due to the pandemic. It laid off 43 full-time employees and 80 part-time and seasonal workers, and it furloughed 50 employees, 40 of whom have been brought back.
Since then, the institution has been focused on providing critical care to its animals, as well as continuing conservation work in the Anderson Cabot Center for
Ocean Life, the organization’s research arm.
To prepare the aquarium’s 73 penguins for its reopening, she said, staff have been playing crowd noise to reacquaint them with having people around their openair enclosure.
The penguins are among the most popular attractions, as well as Mrytle the 500-pound green turtle, Ron the sea lion and Rudy the octopus.