Have you ever wondered what a jellyfish feels like? With the Maritime Aquarium's newest exhibit, you can jiggle a jellyfish first hand.
Rachel Stein, an Aquarist at the Maritime Aquarium said, "This exhibit is going to allow visitors do something they might have never done before, which is touch a live jellyfish in the water. It's really cool because a lot of visitors might have seen jellies on the beach, but they have been afriad to touch them because they heard that they sting. This gives them a chance to touch them in a safe environment."
Jiggle-a-Jelly allows visitors to touch and learn about moon jellyfish, the same species found in the Aquarium's large cylinder tank.
Stein said, "Moon jellyfish are very common on Long Island Sound and in the ocean, in fact they are common all over the world. They can grow quite large. These ones are a decent size but they can get to be the size of dinner plates - 12 to 16 inches across. They have these beautiful moon shaped crescents in the middle, which is where their reproductive organs are and they turn color when you feed them."
Visitors will also have the opportunity to go behind-the-scenes in the culture lab.
Stein said, "They can also explore the marine lab back here which is where we actually grow our own jellyfish and see the entire process, the entire life cycle from the little polyp to a full grown medusa."
Jiggle-a-Jelly opens Saturday, January 18th and will be open on weekends & holidays until April 20th. The exhibit will also be open during school vacation the weeks of February 17th through 21st and April 14th through 18th.