From touching a coral catshark to opening the jaws of a 12-foot alligator skull to seeing a live penguin, youngsters visiting the Mississippi Children’s Museum-Meridian Wednesday got to experience a little bit of the Mississippi Aquarium firsthand.

More than 300 children turned out as the Gulfport-based Mississippi Aquarium brought its outreach program, “Aquarium in Motion,” to the Meridian children’s museum for a midday visit. It was the first time MCM-Meridian and Mississippi Aquarium have teamed up for an event.

Officials with both the museum and aquarium were pleased with the turnout for the event.

“We are real excited to be here, and it looks like everybody is enjoying the special memories they are creating,” said Nicole Martz, the aquarium’s public relations and communications manager.

Martz said Mississippi Aquarium through its “Aquarium in Motion” traveling trailer offers outreach program throughout the state.

“We go to different schools, community events and different facilities like the Mississippi Children’s Museum and show off some amazing animals, some amazing bio facts and bring some of our team,” she said. “It is all part of the three pillars of Mississippi Aquarium — community, education and conservation.”

Through the program, the aquarium hopes to make more children familiar with some of the animals found in Mississippi and around the world, so, hopefully, they will become advocates for them not only in the local environment but also in future conservation efforts, Martz said.

During the visit, children got to see several animal artifacts up close, including the skulls of a dolphin, an alligator and other animals; a beaver pelt; a tortoise shell; and X-ray images taken from an array of different animals at the aquarium. They also got to meet Thumper, a 6-year-old endangered African penguin that lives at the aquarium, and touch a coral catshark in the traveling shark cart, which seemed to be a favorite of the visitors.

“It’s really special,” Martz said of the penguin encounter. “It’s all part of our initiative this year as the Year of the Penguin at Mississippi Aquarium to help raise awareness about these amazing animals and to raise funds to build a permanent on-campus habitat for them.”

Martz said the aquarium still needs to raise about $3 million in order to reach its $9 million goal to build a permanent home for the penguins.

This was not the only chance visitors to MCM-Meridian will get to see animals up close this summer. On Monday, June 10, the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science in Jackson will visit with its Go Wild outreach program as part of the children’s museum’s Magic Monday: The Great Outdoors event.