ZooTampa’s new interactive stingray exhibit is finally ready for its big debut.
Stingray Shores, a new 30,000-gallon habit hosting both cownose and southern stingrays, soft opens to the public today, Feb. 27.
The exhibit features a “naturalistic pool that that is low enough for young children to peer and reach into the water, yet provide ‘rest zones’ for the animals if they choose to take a break,” said the zoo in a press release.
The habit will also offer a new Tampa Bay Rays-sponsored “Signature Encounter,” allowing guests to enter the pool in a supervised setting and wade around with the stingrays.
In 2021, a tragic mass casualty event resulted in the closure of Stingray Bay, which was previously in the same area of the zoo as Stingray Shores.
In total, 12 stingrays died.
At the time, investigators with the zoo concluded that “a supersaturation event took place, likely in the overnight hours, causing gas embolisms (gas bubble disease) in the rays.”
The new and improved touch tank is just the first installment of ZooTampa’s 20-year, $125 million planned expansion, which also includes a new manatee rehab facility, new attractions, and an expansion of the park all the way to the Hillsborough River.
