Explore why some fish are fat and others flat, why some are prickly and others are slippery, in the new exhibit, Fintastic! Weird and Wonderful Adaptations for Survival in the Sea.

Fintastic showcases distinctive teeth, tails, scales and other characteristics that help different fish species find food or evade predators.

Fintastic also delivers information through several senses, making it uniquely accessible to people with vision impairments.

In addition to aquarium tanks with live specimens of flounder, sargassum fish and other species, Fintastic includes life-sized models built for hands-on exploration.

Touching the spadefish, flounder, tarpon, hammerhead shark, lookdown school, black drum, cowfish or moray eel activates an audio guided tactile tour of each. The audio directs visitors where to place their hands to feel fins, mouth shape, eye position, body contours and other special features that work in the fish’s favor, depending on where it lives, what it eats and, in some cases, what likes to eat it.

Visitors hear, for example, that the cowfish employs the horn-like spines above its eyes to wedge itself in a

crevice when pursued. Raised texture represents its camouflaging color pattern.

The additional touch and sound components enhance the exhibit for all visitors, and also enable visitors with vision impairments to enjoy Fintastic without adaptive devices or interpretative assistance. Smooth tile defines the route through the carpeted exhibit space, and bumpy rubber mats indicate stopping places; differences discernible by feet or cane. A three-dimensional map provides orientation.

Fintastic builds on the results of three and a half years of research on how to make exhibits accessible and meaningful to people who are blind or visually impaired. “We are excited that the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores is the first aquarium in the country to offer anything like this - an exhibit that incorporates touch, sound and self-directed navigation” said Exhibits Curator Georgia Minnich.

Minnich’s idea for an accessible exhibit was an extension of other efforts at the Aquarium. During a major renovation completed in 2006, Minnich incorporated engaging multi-dimensional features also helpful to people with diminished vision, such as boldly colored exhibit panels with large, high-contrast text, animal outlines along panel edges, a three-dimensional map of North Carolina and otter tracks imprinted in the ledge fronting the exhibit.

To develop an entire, complex exhibit to be accessible, Minnich collaborated with RAF Models, Inc. of Winston-Salem. RAF won a National Institute for Disabilities Rehabilitation Research grant from the U.S. Dept. Education to research and design accessible exhibits.

The designers consulted with husbandry and education staff members before choosing the adaptations theme for its educational value and capacity for translating into touch and sound. The designers, with help from aquarium staff, chose species with pronounced physical traits.

“The black drum has a flat belly and barbels. That indicates a bottom feeder,” said Minnich.

RAF model-maker and sculptor Rebecca Fuller and husband Bill Watkins had worked with the National Park Service on models to make its attractions more accessible, and also had crafted models of sea life for other aquariums. This was the first exhibit to also feature audio touch-technology.

“An aquarium is especially hard to make accessible because you have to keep the fish in the water,” Fuller said.”So it became a challenge to make this work, not just for people who are blind but for tactile learners. Most children are tactile learners.”

RAF constructed the cowfish, moray eel and spadefish from fiberglass and cast urethane. The hammerhead, black drum, tarpon and other models from the Aquarium’s existing model collection were retrofitted with texturing and audio electronics. The Aquarium averages over 400,000 visitors annually, mandating durable technology. Designers also wanted user simplicity.

“We didn’t want buttons to push. We didn’t want anything that could jiggle off. We couldn’t have anything that plugged in,” she said. Watkins enmeshed carbon fiber fabric in the upper layers of the models. The conductive material, wired to touch sensors, reacts to the minute natural electrical charge of the human hand to activate the speakers.

“It works something like a touch-screen on a computer,” Fuller said. The audio scripts impart information with a sense of humor. Some of the Aquarium’s volunteers provided the first-person narration that is often in keeping with the fish’s character or name. The Southern flounder, for example, “speaks” with a slight regional drawl.

Numerous professionals and consultants in the disabilities field advised RAF on the project at every stage. More than 100 children and adults tested models as they were developed. The majority of the testers have vision impairments. Students at the Gov. Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh helped with the testing. About 20 students participating in a summer camp enthusiastically toured the exhibit before the official opening.

“It was really exciting to see those kids interacting with the exhibit, after my years of imagining it,” Fuller said.

Involving multiple senses can help everyone notice and learn more about the animals and the complex environment in which they live.

“The tactile and auditory experiences will help all visitors appreciate how these different types of fish utilize their unique adaptations to survive in the wild,” said Aquarium Director Allen Monroe.

Fintastic! Weird and Wonderful Adaptations for Survival in the Sea is now open in the Changing Exhibits Gallery, across from the Aquarium Gift Shop. The exhibit is free with admission or membership.

Download a list of other tactile exhibits and programs .