Meet the new baby stingray at State College area’s Discovery Space. Her name is Pearl
Discovery Space near State College introduced its newest aquatic resident during a members-only event Friday — in a baby stingray named Pearl.
The general public can visit Pearl, who’s less than a year old, starting 10 a.m. Saturday at Discovery Space’s Marine Life Center at 1224 N. Atherton St. The science museum and learning center closes at 5 p.m.
“She just came to us last week,” Discovery Space executive director Michele Crowl said. “So we watched for a week to make sure she was healthy and liked her environment, and now we’re here.”
Pearl is a female California round ray, which is native to the eastern Pacific Ocean, and she was born at Scranton’s Electric City Aquarium. The plan is for Pearl to stay at Discovery Space for a year or two until she matures and is returned to Scranton.
While she’s here, the baby that will eventually grow up to 22 inches long as an adult will be available to observe from her tank. Visitors are not able to touch her yet — Discovery Space is concerned she might get stressed — but staff members are slowly getting her comfortable with human touch so, when she returns to Scranton, she could potentially join the touch tank there.
Pearl’s name was officially announced Friday, after 40 classrooms offered suggestions and more than 500 people voted on what to call her. Other choices included Bubbles, Sandy and Strawberry — but about half picked Pearl, Crowl said.
For more information on Discovery Space, go to DiscoverySpace.org. And, to learn more about Pearl, visit DiscoverySpace.org/stingray.
