Moody Gardens to open $37 million coral reef exhibit

GALVESTON, Texas – Moody Gardens is opening a $37 million exhibit to give guests an up-close-and-personal experience of the beauty of tropical coral reefs.

The exhibit will open in time for Memorial Day weekend.

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Moody Gardens worked closely with the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary to replicate the diversity guests would see if they dove deep in the Gulf of Mexico.

Guests will be able to explore the reefs of the South Atlantic, South Pacific, North Pacific and Caribbean.

“These banks are part of an expansive series that are formed on the subsurface of salt domes in the Northwest Gulf of Mexico. They are some of the healthiest reef systems that exist because they are so far removed from any man-made pollutants and other impacts that are naturally affecting some of the coral reefs that are closer to shore,” said Greg Whittaker, Moody Garden animal husbandry manager.

[PHOTOS: Moody Gardens 2017 coral reef exhibit]

Moody Gardens is also enhancing its touch tank, which allows guests to be fingertip-to-fingertip with sea stars, hermit crabs and pencil urchins.

According to Whittaker, adding these two new exhibits "connects guests with the ocean in our front yard."

The new Moody Gardens exhibit will have its grand opening May 27.