You can help ANimals
simple actions can help in a big way
The NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores is proud to have joined aquariums across the country to launch the In Our Hands campaign.
The campaign's initiative is to remind everyone to reduce single-use plastic and choose alternatives instead. You can learn more at https://ourhands.org
We're replacing plastic straws with paper straws in our snack bars, adding water bottle refilling stations next to our water fountains, and we're pledging to remove plastic water bottle from vending machines in 2020!
There are many things you can do to help animals and reduce your single-use plastics! You can pick up trash when you see it on the ground, put your groceries in a reusable bag, take a reusable cup with you for coffee or tea, and even use a shampoo bar! Can you name some ways to reduce single-use plastics?
Free printables and Worksheets
Print out a nature scavenger hunt, nature bingo, or our sea turtle fun-sheet!
Meet Our Animal of the Month: Atlantic Spadefish
The North Carolina Aquariums logo is a smaller spadefish inside a larger spadefish. When the logo was designed between 1984 and 1985, directors wanted to use an animal that was representative of the NC coast, and also a fish with a unique shape. Jeff Morvil of Wilmington drew up the actual logo, and the directors selected it from several choices.
According to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, spadefish are medium-sized fish and commonly found from Massachusetts to Brazil. Adults have flat, spade-shaped bodies with pointed dorsal and anal fins and a blunt snout.
Adult spadefish are a silverish gray color with three to six vertical black bands on both sides of their body. Juvenile spadefish fish are usually black and grow into their stripes.
They can grow up to 20 pounds and over 30 inches long. They like warmer water and travel in schools. They can eat crustaceans, jellyfish, and mollusks.
The North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores collects eggs from several aquarium habitats and animal caretakers raise those eggs into adults. The Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores has raised hundreds of spadefish. Many of those spadefish have gone to other aquariums as a way to help limit the stress put on wild populations. You can see many of those spadefish that were born and raised at the aquarium in many habitats at the aquarium.
Meet Other animals!
Check out our Meet the Animals Archives for fun information on animals that were featured in the past.