October brings “Thrills, Gills and Chills” to the Tennessee Aquarium

Imagine standing safely on one side of the window as a big, toothy sand tiger shark eases past your face. You know you’re in the clear, and yet you feel your pulse picking up at the sight.
There’s also something about the way the alligators in the Delta Swamp stare at you without blinking—as if you are their lunch, which brings a tingle to the back of your neck. Or maybe it’s getting inches away from a rattlesnake, anaconda or boa constrictor that gives you the heebie-jeebies.
Relax and embrace the critter jitters. That’s what the Tennessee Aquarium’s month-long celebration, “Thrills, Gills and Chills,” is all about.
Throughout October, the aquarium will feature special keeper talks, dive shows and animal encounters at the Tennessee Aquarium designed to bring people up close to nature’s most feared—and, often, most misunderstood—animals.
Visitors will learn creepy and cool facts about the aquarium’s giant Pacific octopus and poison dart frogs, about the eyes of newts and the sting of jellyfish. They will also discover why one type of seal petrifies penguins, what piranhas really choose to chomp on, and what’s up with the moray eels’ ferocious appearance.
The aquarium’s divers will get in on the act, donning costumes during special dive shows. Meanwhile, kids and parents can belly up to the tank and prove they aren’t “scaredy cat-fish” by touching a shark or ray.
The scream theme will carry over to the IMAX Theater, which during October will be showing Sea Monsters 3D, a film using computer-generated animation to bring audiences face to face with some of the most chilling predators the world has ever seen. The film’s storyline follows a curious and adventurous dolichorhynchops—familiarly known as a “dolly”—as she travels through the most dangerous oceans in history. Along the way, she encounters long-necked plesiosaurs, giant turtles, enormous fish, fierce sharks, and the most dangerous sea monster of all, the mosasaur.
This celebration of all things spooky culminates Oct. 24 with “the Aqua-Scarium Halloween Party,” scheduled for 7 to 10 p.m. “It’s a monstrous celebration so big it takes two Aquarium buildings to hold all the action,” says the aquarium’s Thom Benson, who invites kids to “come in costume and celebrate Halloween while watching costumed divers and characters, trick or treat for goodies, and win treasure as you play games.”