Behind the scenes of the new Tennessee Aquarium exhibit

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — The Tennessee Aquarium will be unveiling a new exhibit next week. Crowds will certainly be lined up to see what they have in store, but the story starts much earlier.

Manager of Exhibit Services, Jeff Worley, said that planning for the Ridges to Rivers Exhibit started over 2 years ago. “The process started about brainstorming, trying to come up with a big idea. What could we do to make our sturgeon exhibit bigger and better. That was the genesis of the concept, a new sturgeon touch experience, and so then it just kind of expanded into the entire gallery,” said Worley.

The focus of the tanks shifted to local freshwater fish species. Teams were sent to witness the rivers firsthand and study nature in its purest form.

Senior Aquarist, Ben Stenger, was a part of the teams and said that research is key to the operation. “We also just spent alot of time in the field, getting our heads under the water and seeing the habitats of the fish that we were going to display. So we learned alot of little interesting things like certain species like to hang out here, and so how can we mimic that.  So hopefully those little details will help make something really interesting,” said Stenger.

Work is almost complete for the March 1st opening. Excitement is palpable as everyone is ready for the exhibit to be seen.