Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk debuts seal exhibit

The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk has unveiled Pinniped Cove, a 160,000-gallon and 22-foot-deep seal exhibit that is the largest aquatic display in the aquarium”™s 33-year history.

Pinniped Cove replaces the seals”™ original 19,000-gallon exhibit, where they lived from 1988 to 2019, and it gives them a larger residence than the 110,00-gallon and 18-foot-deep exhibit that is home to the aquarium”™s sharks.

The new exhibit is entirely indoors and features five female harbor seals, a species that migrates into the Long Island Sound each winter.

Visitors are able to view the seals through floor-to-ceiling windows on the aquarium”™s first floor and from above the surface on the second floor. The new habitat is entirely indoors, with a bank of exterior windows upstairs overlooking the Norwalk River.

“This is one of the best and largest displays devoted to harbor seals in the U.S.,” said Barrett Christie, the aquarium”™s director of animal husbandry. “Fabricated rock work on the bottom and along the edges simulate their native natural environs of New England. And guests have the opportunity again to watch as our staff feeds the seals and works with them on animal-husbandry techniques.”

The aquarium opened Pinniped Cove to the public on June 8 as part of its World Oceans Day observance.