Heather McCarron
Cape Cod Times

BREWSTER — Tucked into a corner of the aquarium on the lower level of the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History are two tanks that, upon first glance, appear to be filled only with sand and water. But senior aquarist Tyan Bassett assures visitors there is something alive in them.

Smiling knowingly, she reached into one of the tanks and gently sifted her fingers through the sandy bottom. Momentarily, she lifted a tiny, pale horseshoe crab — smaller than a dime — from under the tawny grains.

The crabs are part of a Head Start program, which aims to help distressed populations by raising young to an age where they are more likely to survive before releasing them into the wild.

Lynn Adams awaits visitors as she stands next to a saltwater tank showing off sea life seen at low tide, one of the many displays on Dec. 21 at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History aquarium in Brewster. Aquarium Store Depot, a national website founded and owned by aquarium hobbyist Mark Valderrama, said the museum's aquarium was recently ranked as the tenth "most beautiful" in the nation.

"We've already released 50 of them this year," Bassett said, "but we kept these guys to show museum visitors what they look like at a year old."

As she proceeded from tank to tank, pointing out a pair of seahorses here, sinewy eels there, a tank with baby puffer fish, one filled with hake and another populated by gracefully undulating moon jellies, there was no hiding her pride in the aquarium.

She is not alone in loving the place. Its visitors, during a tour of the aquarium on Dec. 21, have a lot of appreciation for it, too.

In an analysis done by Aquarium Store Depot, a national website founded and owned by aquarium hobbyist Mark Valderrama, the Cape Cod museum's aquarium was recently ranked as the tenth "most beautiful" in the nation.

The Depot is a sprawling website that offers guidance to aquarium hobbyists and sells a limited selection of aquarium products that Valderrama has vetted, according to the website. He started the shop because he was frustrated by an "overwhelming selection" of products at aquarium e-stores that leave hobbyists bewildered, the website says.

Fish from southern latitudes circle a tank at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History aquarium in Brewster, on Dec. 21. Aquarium Store Depot, a national website founded and owned by aquarium hobbyist Mark Valderrama, said the museum's aquarium was recently ranked as the tenth "most beautiful" in the nation.

The Depot's mission, the website says, "is to simplify the aquarium hobby so the beginner can thrive."

The organization created its Top 10 list of "most beautiful" public aquariums by analyzing Tripadvisor reviews containing keywords like "beautiful," "breathtaking" and "picturesque." In total, 175 public aquariums with more than 100 reviews were evaluated and ranked based on the proportion of reviews that contained any terms of attractiveness.

For the Brewster aquarium, 19.8% of the evaluated reviews contained the keywords.

“The waters of our planet are home to all kinds of weird, wonderful, and beautiful life," said Valderrama in a statement, noting that "aquaria provide people the opportunity to see the wonders of aquatic life … as well as learn of their important conservation and restoration efforts."

'Teeny tiny baby horseshoe crabs'

In a September 2022 Tripadvisor entry titled "One of the best natural history museums we've ever visited," reviewer Zipline 14 talks about the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History's "fun aquarium. Just one example: Teeny tiny baby horseshoe crabs barely larger than a poppy seed in one tank, a two-year-old horseshow crab in another, and a chart showing the growth timeline of this ancient species."

Reviewer Megan WF of Cheshire, Conn. calls the museum "one of Cape Cod's hidden gems" and described the aquarium as "an impressive aquatic collection of local sea creatures, which includes turtles, fish, horseshoe crabs, seahorses, jelly fish, and more."

Museum President and Executive Director Robert Dwyer said the trustees and staff take pride in giving visitors a broad view of the Cape's aquatic life.

"It's a microcosm of what you find on the Cape, with its salt, fresh and brackish water," he said.

Getting highlighted among the country's most beautiful aquariums, for Dwyer, comes as a validation of the passion and care that's put into the aquarium.

It started with a few small tanks on display

While the museum is marking its 70th anniversary in 2024, the aquarium there isn't as old. It had its beginnings in a few small tanks on display around the museum. Starting in about 1987, Dwyer said, "it slowly just started to expand" as the tanks were brought together into an old puppet show area in the lower level, and more were added.

According to museum-conducted surveys, the aquarium is the museum's top attraction, followed by its butterfly house.

"We get 55,000 visitors here in a year, with the bulk of them coming in the summertime," Dwyer said.

Most of the animals are native to the waters on and around Cape Cod, rescued by fishermen and others, or brought to the aquarium's attention because they are unusual — like their rare blue, calico, and pumpkin lobsters.

Collaborations across the region

The aquarium collaborates with New England Aquarium in Boston, Maria Mitchell Aquarium on Nantucket, and Woods Hole Science Aquarium. In addition to the Head Start program for horseshoe crabs, the Brewster museum also head starts endangered turtles called northern red-bellied cooters and, for the first time this year, threatened Northern diamond-backed terrapins.

A lot of work goes into the aquarium, from keeping the tanks clean — a weekly task— to ensuring upkeep and maintenance of all of the associated equipment, feeding the animals, and mixing saltwater for the marine tanks, Bassett, the aquarist, said.

A rare bi-color lobster is a big draw at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History aquarium in Brewster, photographed on Dec. 21.

But she loves it all.

"I am just a big appreciator of what we've got going here," she said. "We're so fortunate to have this here."

Lynn Adams, a retired nurse who is a cousin to one of the museum's founders, couldn't agree more. She walks beaches daily collecting seaweed for the animals to eat. "It's quite a special place," Adams said.

The museum was recently awarded a $25,000 grant from the Eddy Foundation, a Minnesota-based conservation-centered nonprofit that would allow for the purchase of bigger tanks and other infrastructure improvements.

As the museum enters its seventh decade, Dwyer said there are plans to put more emphasis on the interconnectedness of nature and scientific innovation. Already the museum, working with NASA and STEM organizations, has incorporated some planetary science and space exploration education.

The museum's one-time library was recently converted into a hands-on science center for kids, just opened in July. Dwyer said the goal is to get kids to think about how solutions for modern living can be found in nature, such as wind turbine blades with a scalloped edge that, similar to a whale's fin, work to reduce the amount of energy needed to move them.

It's a growing area of science called bio-mimicry that he said the museum is looking to highlight.

"What we're segueing to is teaching what we can learn from plants and animals," Dwyer said. "We're excited about where we're going."

Other aquariums on the top 10 list of most beautiful aquariums, from first to ninth, are: Belle Isle Aquarium in Detroit, Michigan; Butterfly House & Aquarium in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Birch Aquarium in La Jolla, California; Point Definace Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma Washington; Seacoast Science Center in Rye, New Hampshire; VIA Aquarium in Schenectady, New York; Sea Life Park Hawaii in Waimānalo, Hawaii; Missippi Aquarium in Gulfport, Mississippi; and Aquarium at the Boardwalk in Branson, Missouri.

Heather McCarron can be reached at hmccarron@capecodonline.com, or follow her on X @HMcCarron_CCT

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