I got a kick out of Myrtle, the Yellow Lab of the Coral Reef.

The centerpiece of the New England Aquarium is a four-story coral reef with three giant sea turtles and more than 1,150 fish.

A large ramp goes from the ground floor of the building to the top and winds around the reef – windows all the way – and visitors can watch the four-time a day feeding, and ask questions of the aquarium staff.

No matter where you stop there is something surprising to see.

There are all kinds of fascinating and different fish in the tank, but Myrtle, the 500 lb centerpiece of the reef, is clearly the star. It was interesting to see how the staff has trained her to come to the top when they appear with white cans filled with food for her.

Honestly, this is just how I trained my Labs to eat in a sane and calm way.

It was difficult to feed her in the tank, she would crash into the divers, which made it dangerous. So they trained her to come up to the top when it’s feeding time and she is either hand feed or offered her greens on a long stick.

The staff tosses different kinds of fish food out onto the top of the water, fish rise up to eat it. Throughout the day, divers go into the tank to search for eggs (and any sick or dead fish) and clean up.  The huge tank is crystal clear.

The odd thing, is I’ve met Myrtle before. She was in the Provincetown Aquarium – a seedy, tiny thing – for 40 years. She’s been in the New England Aquarium for 50 years. I vaguely remember her on my visits to P’town when my family and I went there.

So Myrtle is at least 90 years old and scientists don’t really know how long these huge turtles live. I forgot to ask if they sleep, or how.