By
FRANK CARINI/ecoRI.org News staff
NORTH
KINGSTOWN — Mark Hall could sit for hours in front of the Mangrove Tank that
greets visitors when they enter his Biomes Marine Biology Center, except he’s
much too busy caring for the 2,500 animals whose popularity keeps the
educational center open seven days a week.
The
600-gallon tank filled with northern puffers, winter flounder, pompanos,
striped mullets, spider crabs and tautog, among other species listed on a four-page
laminated catalog, is the signature exhibit in this tranquil oasis on Post
Road. The tank and its entire system were donated to the center by Roger
Williams University, which had received the display years ago from the New
England Aquarium in Boston.
Hall’s
fascination with marine life began at a young age, and it went beyond staring
at displays at New England’s premier aquarium. By the time he was 14, Hall was
running his own specimen collection business, collecting marine animals from
Narragansett Bay and the Atlantic Ocean for researchers.
After
graduating from Cumberland High School, Hall attended the University of New
Hampshire where he studied biology. When he graduated, Hall returned to Rhode
Island and went back to collecting local marine animals. He took his assembled
associates on the road, visiting Rhode Island elementary schools to teach
students about the creatures that call the Ocean State’s waters home.
Soon,
Hall had named his educational road show Biomes and he was working out of a
garage in Exeter. In 1997, he began renting 1,500 square feet of space in the
Shady Lea Mill complex. The space was small and out of the way, but it allowed
Hall to be open on Sundays and host small bus tours.
But
after 15 years, the popularity of Hall’s associates outgrew the mill space, so
last year he moved his tanks, displays and equipment to 6640 Post Road. His new
12,000 square feet of space opened to the public on Christmas Eve — a hundred
people showed up.
The
center is now open seven days a week, with Sundays and holidays attracting the
biggest crowds. A small staff of full- and part-time employees helps Hall care
for the animals, clean the tanks, repair equipment and run the business.
There’s also no shortage of volunteers and support from the community.
The
center features 90 exhibits, including 10 touch tanks for curious children.
Most of the animals on display were collected by Hall, his staff or volunteers
from local marine waters. “We collect most of the animals from shallow water
when they are at a very young age,” Hall said. “If they grow up here, they
adapt better.”
Hall
believes the Biomes Marine Biology Center has the largest private collection of
New England marine life in the world. The non-native animals that call Biomes
home, such as a tortoise, an alligator snapping turtle from the Mississippi
River and poison dart frogs, are rescues.
There’s
no need to fear the dart frogs, however. Their skin isn’t poisonous, because
they haven’t dined on the Amazon ants that make touching them dangerous.
The
for-profit center doesn’t buy or sell any animals or equipment. Hall said the
mission is educational. “It’s about teaching kids about these wonderful
animals,” he said.
The
center has no shortage of interesting animals. There’s an octopus that can
twist off the cap of a glass jar to get to the shrimp inside. Like a mood ring,
the octopus turns purple when frustrated or red when angry.
There’s
a sea mouse, which is really a worm. There are seahorses, pipefish, a cownose
ray, toadfish, skates, hogchokers, winter and summer flounder, and a rare
calico lobster. There’s a Reptile Corner and an in-the-works commercial fishing
exhibit.
A
7-pound black drum swims alone in a tank. Hall found the fish seven years ago
while scuba diving off Newport. The juvenile fish, only a few inches long, was
trapped in a piece of PVC piping. “I saw this piece of PVC pipe spinning
around,” said Hall, as he did a swirling motion with his index finger on his
right hand. “The fish was stuck inside. He couldn’t get out.”
Hall
couldn’t free the fish underwater, so he brought the trapped fish back to
Biomes and cut the pipe just inches from the black drum’s nose. Scales and fins
had been ripped off during its frantic struggle in the piece of PVC.
Black
drums can live 40-50 years and grow to weigh 100 pounds, according to Hall.
The
center’s most popular exhibit is the Shark Petting Tank, which features dogfish
sharks that local commercial fishermen have caught by accident. Just make sure
to pet these docile creatures behind the eyes, or they will dart away.
Commercial fishermen also have supplied the center with a small collection of
catsharks.
The
Doughnut Tank — a blue circle of fiberglass that Hall found in the woods behind
the University of Rhode Island in what he called an “equipment graveyard” —
houses a pair of striped sea robins that constantly swim around the exhibit,
often with their pectoral finsopening and closing like a bird’s wings in flight. Hence the name.
“Sea
robins don’t like being penned up in a tank,” Hall said. “They like to keep
moving.”
Sand
from 30 Rhode Island beaches fills the bottom of most of the tanks. An
information sheet at each tank tells visitors from what Ocean State beach the
exhibit’s sand is from.
Most
of the sand was collected by Facebook followers, who saw a post requesting sand
and left buckets of labeled sand at the center’s front door, including a bucket
from a Block Island beach. “I think I only collected three beaches myself,”
Hall said. “The community support we have received has been tremendous.”
The Biomes Marine Biology Center is open to the public Sundays from 10
a.m.-5 p.m., and Monday through Friday from noon-5 p.m. The center is reserved
Saturdays for private parties.