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Among the exhibits are re-creations of the watery environments of coral reefs and a section of the Maine coastline (assembled, ironically, from casts of rock taken along the shore of Massachusetts). The last is sure to be a hit with schoolchildren, since they will be able to pick up and handle living tidal organisms such as horseshoe crabs, moon snails and sand dollars. The 13-ft.-high viewing windows of two gigantic "race track" tanks, one atop the other, reveal the dark worlds of an Atlantic coral reef and the deep sea. Scores of trigger fish, tiger fish, parrot fish, grunts and blow fish swim in a traffic jam of color through the coral reef. Below, sea turtles and rays settle into the simulated depths, sometimes with understandable uneasiness, as eight species of shark hover near by.
The spiritual as well as the physical apex of the aquarium is the tropical rain forest, housed in the 64-ft. glass pyramid that is the building's most distinctive feature. The rain forest illustrates the variety of environments dependent on water, and contains tall, exotic Amazonian trees, vines, shrubs, a waterfall, a stream and leafy ground cover, as well as lizards, snakes and frogs. From the visitors' platform one can take in the full glory of a complete ecosystem almost ten stories above the Inner Harbor, and at the same time view the vista of a redeveloped Baltimore embracing the horizon.