Marine museum welcomes rays and 'benders to exhibit

There are new creatures to feature at Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons. Earlier this week Matt Neff, the museum’s curator of estuarine biology, introduced the new tank inhabitants, including four cownose rays.

It was about eight years ago that an environmental group called Showing Animals Respect and Kindness — or SHARK — raised awareness about a local event at which cownose rays were clubbed to death for sport.

Neff, who said he has had a love for all of nature’s creatures since he was a small child, dismissed reports that the cownose rays, which are prevalent in the Chesapeake Bay region during the warm weather months, are pesky and invasive.

Recently, Neff and other museum personnel traveled to an aquarium in Kansas City, Mo., and returned with the cownose rays, along with some Atlantic rays and skates. The creatures were kept in an aquarium during the 22½ hour trip back to Maryland.

Neff explained that the Kansas City aquarium was the only institute that responded to Calvert Marine Museum’s request for cownose rays “when we had a need for animals to exhibit.”

The cownose rays, all male, seem to be getting along fine in the circular tank at the museum with the other local waterway denizens.

“They’re pretty docile,” Neff said, adding that the rays “were born in captivity.”

Neff, who grew up in the Mid-Atlantic area and went to college in New York, majoring in biology, has previously worked at a nature center and at the National Zoo.

Of his job at the local marine museum he said, “I do like that we only have native species here.”

Neff also showed off one of the museum’s newest exhibits, a pair of eastern hellbenders, the largest salamander in North America. However, the hellbender, first discovered in 1803, can no longer be found in the Chesapeake Bay region.

The eastern hellbender can grow as long as 29 inches and weigh up to 5.5 pounds.

“It’s kind of a fascinating animal,” Neff said, noting that some of the factors, including development and pollution, “ended up being a perfect storm” and put the hellbender’s population in peril.

Bonnie Farmer, the museum’s communications and marketing coordinator, confirmed that the annual Sharkfest is coming up at the Solomons facility on July 13. The extremely popular event will feature live sharks for viewing at Corbin Pavilion. It’s recommended that anyone wanting to attend Sharkfest 2024 purchase tickets in advance since the museum has limited capacity.

For more information about the Calvert Marine Museum, go to calvertmarinemuseum.com