August 12-18, 2004

mixpicks

In the Swim

Photo By: Dennis McDonald

Every other summer, either someone comes up with a film about the mean things that live in the water (Jaws, Orca, Open Water) or we get slammed with headlines from the AP wire like "Shark Attacks, Wounds Australia Fisherman." You never hear anything nice about sharks — the good things they do for their community, the advantages they bring. No. Even in kids' cartoons like Shark Tale, they get played menacingly with CGI touches by Robert DeNiro and Martin Scorsese. Oh, where's the respect? How fortunate, then, to have Camden's New Jersey State Aquarium hook up Sharkmania (before the aquarium closes its doors on Sept. 7, for expansion porpoises, I mean purposes, until spring 2005). Along with educational talks (sharks have existed for 400 million years, most weigh over 500 pounds and have seven rows of up to 40,000 teeth), craft-ivities and a chance to hang with the aquarium's land-loving shark, Chomp, you can whale on the shark-feeding festivities or witness the sleek, powerful prowess of massive sandtiger and sandbar sharks in saltwater tanks. Kids also have access to smooth dogfish sharks at a "hands-on" Touch-a-Shark exhibit.

Sharkmania, Sun., Aug. 15, 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., free with aquarium admission of $10.95-$13.95, New Jersey State Aquarium, 1 Riverside Drive, Camden, N.J., 800-616-JAWS, www.njaquarium.org.

—A.D. Amorosi