Snapping turtle and dozens of fish are first residents of Albany aquarium

<p>With Gov. Perdue's commitment of $1.4 from the state budget, workers began moving fish and a 94-pound alligator snapping turtle named Buster into the Flint Riverquarium on Wednesday in preparation for its September opening as a major southwest Georgia tourist attraction.</p><p>The $25 million Riverquarium will feature fish and amphibians native to the Flint, Chattahoochee and Apalachicola rivers and the Gulf of Mexico, but it will also have displays on swamps and the longleaf pine ecosystem of the Southeast.</p><p>River species will include largemouth bass, spotted gar and sucker fish. There will also be interactive displays that teach visitors about water conservation and the importance of maintaining a healthy environment.</p><p>Spokeswoman Nikki Rich said 155,000 visitors are expected the first year. The Riverquarium is scheduled to open Sept. 3.</p><p>John Magyar, a senior aquarist, lowered 50 to 100 fish into one of the main attractions, a 175,000-gallon "blue hole," similar to the springs that gush cool, jade-colored water into the Flint and Chattahoochee river bottoms from the Floridan Aquifer.</p><p>Gulf striped bass, trapped in the Flint by dams, have to spend their summers in the blue holes to survive Georgia's long, hot summers. The springs pump water that is a constant 68-degrees.</p><p>The fish flapped wildly as Magyar put them into the 75-foot by 30-foot blue hole, rimmed with cypress knees and limestone typical of the banks along the Flint.</p><p>Then Magyar hefted the prehistoric-looking alligator snapper out of a plastic tub, careful to avoid its gaping jaws that are powerful enough to amputate fingers. Buster immediately swam to the bottom to hide from the reporters and photographers gawking at him through an observation window.</p><p>Alligator snapping turtles live only in rivers and streams that flow into the Gulf of Mexico. Reaching weights of more than 100 pounds, they sit on the bottom with their mouths open and use a small appendage resembling a worm to attract fish.</p><p>Work stopped on the Riverquarium earlier this month because Gov. Perdue held up a $1.4 million appropriation for the project, but the governor authorized the money last week after a visit to the site.</p><p>Chief Curator Richard Brown said the Riverquarium will eventually have fish from the Gulf of Mexico, a Florida reef, the Colorado River, the Danube in Europe and the Ganges in India.</p><p>"The overall goal is to educate people about water as a natural resource," he said. "We'll have a wide variety of exhibits."</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x2865598)</p>

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