Newport Aquarium has announced that its newest exhibit,  Stingray Hideaway, will open in May. It is the biggest addition to the aquarium in a decade.
The brand new interactive exhibit will give visitors the opportunity to interact with stingrays both above and below the water. They will even have the chance to touch them.
Executive Director of Newport Aquarium, Eric Rose said, “That touching experience allows them to connect emotionally to the animals and to literally fall in love with the animals.
“When Stingray Hideaway opens, it’s quickly going to become a guest favorite. Any time our guests are able to experience what it feels like to touch an animal, a personal relationship is built that leads to a lifetime of love and respect for those animals.”
Newport Aquarium is in Newport, Kentucky, United States. It has 70 exhibits and 14 galleries with five acrylic tunnels with a combined length of over 60 m. The aquarium houses thousands of creatures from the world’s oceans in around 1, 000, 000 US gal (3, 800, 000 L) of water.
Open 365 days a year, it is a leader in marine conservation and an accredited member of the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
Newport Aquarium is part of the Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation, a for-profit company.
Stingray Hideaway, a “Guest Favourite”
Stingray Hideaway has a footprint of 6, 000-square-foot and a 40-feet high atrium ceiling. This allows natural light on the exhibits. The project cost over $1 million.
Key features of the new exhibit include:
A 17, 000-gallon stingray touchpool. Here, visitors will interact with two dozen stingrays.
A 30-foot tunnel. This goes through the exhibit, allowing guests to view the stingrays not only from above but from below too. 
Rose said, “The kids and the kids at heart will be able to go through together and crawl through this tunnel with an element of pop-up windows.”
An additional attraction is a  touch pool specifically for younger children. This will allow them to get up close and personal with several juvenile sharks. Finally, guests will encounter other tropical island inhabitants such as iguanas.
