USA: Land of 170 Aquariums

snowleopard

snowleopard

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Premium Member
The United States of America is certainly a wonderful nation to visit if one is a zoo enthusiast, as there are approximately 600 zoos and 150 aquariums in the country to make it a grand total of 750 "zoos" from coast to coast. Over the years I've accumulated a lengthy list of establishments with exotic wildlife that are open to the public, and below I've provided the total aquariums in the nation. It is sometimes a struggle to define what exactly constitutes a zoo or aquarium and it has been tricky creating these lists in the past. Nevertheless, included below are the trio of SeaWorld parks, several marine mammal centers, a few swim-with-the-dolphin-type places and a whole lot more! Please let me know about any facilities that are not on the list and I can add them to the ever-growing archive of aquatic institutions.

The asterisks (**) are next to the ones that I've personally visited over the years. It is staggering to consider that even with all of my various summer zoo trips I'm still only halfway from seeing every aquarium in the USA! I quite possibly might have toured more American aquariums than just about anyone else but it seems as if a couple of new ones open up every year and I'm not sure that anyone can ever see them all.

Alabama (3)
Alabama Shoals Aquarium & Nature Center (Florence)
Dauphin Island Sea Lab: Estuarium (Dauphin Island)
McWane Science Center (Birmingham)

Alaska (1)
Alaska SeaLife Center (Seward)

Arizona (3)
Dolphinaris Arizona (Scottsdale)
OdySea Aquarium (Scottsdale)
**Sea Life Arizona (Tempe)

Arkansas (1)
**National Park Aquarium (Hot Springs)

California (23)
**Aquarium of the Bay (San Francisco)
**Aquarium of the Pacific (Long Beach)
**Birch Aquarium (San Diego)
**Cabrillo Marine Aquarium (San Pedro)
**California Academy of Sciences (San Francisco) - Steinhart Aquarium
**California Science Center (Los Angeles)
**Central Coast Aquarium (Avila Beach)
**Doheny State Beach Interpret. Center & Aquarium (Dana Point)
**Living Coast Discovery Center (Chula Vista)
**Marine Mammal Care Center (San Pedro)
**Marine Mammal Center (Sausalito)
**Monterey Bay Aquarium (Monterey)
**Morro Bay Aquarium (Morro Bay)
**Northcoast Marine Mammal Center (Crescent City)
**Ocean Institute (Dana Point)
**Ocean World (Crescent City)
**Pacific Marine Mammal Center (Laguna Beach)
**Roundhouse Marine Studies Lab & Aquarium (Manhattan Beach)
**Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Sea Center (Santa Barbara)
**Santa Monica Pier Aquarium (Santa Monica)
**Sea Life Carlsbad (Carlsbad)
**SeaWorld San Diego (San Diego)
**Seymour Marine Discovery Center (Santa Cruz)

Colorado (1)
**Downtown Aquarium Denver (Denver)

Connecticut (2)
**Maritime Aquarium (Norwalk)
**Mystic Aquarium (Mystic)

Florida (30)
Aquatica Orlando (Orlando)
Clearwater Marine Aquarium (Clearwater)
Discovery Cove (Orlando)
Dolphin Connection (Duck Key)
Dolphin Research Center (Grassy Key)
Dolphins Plus (Key Largo)
**Florida Aquarium (Tampa)
Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters (Marathon)
Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center (Stuart)
Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park (Fort Walton Beach)
Gulf Specimen Marine Lab (Panacea)
Gulf World Marine Park (Panama City Beach)
Imaginarium Science Center (Fort Myers)
John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park Visitor Center (Key Largo)
Key West Aquarium (Key West)
Loggerhead Marinelife Center (Juno Beach)
Marineland Dolphin Adventure (St. Augustine)
Marine Science Center (Ponce Inlet)
Miami Seaquarium (Miami)
Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium (Sarasota)
Museum of Science (Miami)
River Center (Jupiter)
Sea Life Orlando (Orlando)
SeaWorld Orlando (Orlando)
South Florida Museum: Parker Manatee Aquarium (Bradenton)
St. Augustine Aquarium (St. Augustine)
St. Lucie County Aquarium (Fort Pierce)
Tarpon Springs Aquarium (Tarpon Springs)
Theater of the Sea (Islamorada)
The Seas with Nemo & Friends (Epcot at Lake Buena Vista)

Georgia (4)
Flint RiverQuarium (Albany)
**Georgia Aquarium (Atlanta)
Georgia Sea Turtle Center (Jekyll Island)
UGA Marine Education Center & Aquarium (Savannah)

Hawaii (3)
Maui Ocean Center (Wailuku)
Sea Life Park Hawaii (Waimanalo)
Waikiki Aquarium (Honolulu)

Idaho (2)
**Aquarium of Boise (Boise)
East Idaho Aquarium (Idaho Falls)

Illinois (1)
**John G. Shedd Aquarium (Chicago)

Iowa (1)
**National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium (Dubuque)

Kansas (1)
**Kansas Fishes Aquarium (Salina)

Kentucky (1)
**Newport Aquarium (Newport)

Louisiana (2)
**Audubon Aquarium of the Americas (New Orleans)
Shreveport Aquarium (Shreveport)

Maine (2)
Maine State Aquarium (West Boothbay Harbor)
Mount Desert Oceanarium (Bar Harbor)

Maryland (1)
**National Aquarium (Baltimore)

Massachusetts (4)
Maria Mitchell Aquarium (Nantucket)
National Marine Life Center (Buzzards Bay)
**New England Aquarium (Boston)
Woods Hole Science Aquarium (Woods Hole)

Michigan (2)
Belle Isle Aquarium (Detroit)
Sea Life Michigan (Auburn Hills)

Minnesota (2)
**Great Lakes Aquarium (Duluth)
**Sea Life Minnesota (Bloomington)

Missouri (3)
Sea Life Kansas City (Kansas City)
Wonders of Wildlife (Springfield)
**World Aquarium (St. Louis)

Nebraska (1)
**Ak-Sar-Ben Aquarium (Gretna)

Nevada (2)
SeaQuest Interactive Aquarium (Las Vegas)
**Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay (Las Vegas)

New Hampshire (1)
Seacoast Science Center (Rye)

New Jersey (5)
**Adventure Aquarium (Camden)
Atlantic City Aquarium (Atlantic City)
**Jenkinson’s Aquarium (Point Pleasant Beach)
Marine Mammal Stranding Center (Brigantine)
Sea Life Meadowlands (Meadowlands)

New Mexico (1)
**Albuquerque Aquarium (Albuquerque)

New York (6)
Aquarium of Niagara (Niagara Falls)
Aquazoo Aquarium (Alexandria Bay)
Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery & Aquarium (Cold Spring Harbor)
**Long Island Aquarium (Riverhead)
**New York Aquarium (Brooklyn)
Via Aquarium (Rotterdam)

North Carolina (5)
Discovery Place (Charlotte)
**North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher (Kure Beach)
**North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores (Pine Knoll Shores)
**North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island (Manteo)
Sea Life Charlotte-Concord (Concord-Charlotte)

North Dakota (1)
**Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery & Aquarium (Riverdale)

Ohio (1)
**Greater Cleveland Aquarium (Cleveland)

Oklahoma (1)
**Oklahoma Aquarium (Jenks)

Oregon (4)
**Hatfield Marine Science Center (Newport)
**Oregon Coast Aquarium (Newport)
**Oregon Undersea Gardens (Newport)
**Seaside Aquarium (Seaside)

Rhode Island (2)
Exploration Center & Aquarium: Easton’s Beach (Newport)
Exploration Center & Aquarium: South Coast Center (Westerly)

South Carolina (2)
**Ripley’s Aquarium at Myrtle Beach (Myrtle Beach)
South Carolina Aquarium (Charleston)

South Dakota (1)
Sertoma Butterfly House & Marine Cove (Sioux Falls)

Tennessee (3)
Aquarium Restaurant (Nashville)
Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies (Gatlinburg)
**Tennessee Aquarium (Chattanooga)

Texas (13)
Aquarium at Rockport Harbor (Rockport)
**Aquarium Restaurant (Kemah)
**Aquatica San Antonio (San Antonio)
**Austin Aquarium (Austin)
**Children’s Aquarium at Fair Park (Dallas)
**Dallas World Aquarium (Dallas)
**Downtown Aquarium Houston (Houston)
**Moody Gardens (Galveston)
**San Antonio Aquarium (San Antonio)
**Sea Life Grapevine (Grapevine)
SeaQuest Interactive Aquarium (Fort Worth)
**SeaWorld San Antonio (San Antonio)
**Texas State Aquarium (Corpus Christi)

Utah (2)
**Loveland Living Planet Aquarium (Draper)
SeaQuest Interactive Aquarium (Layton)

Vermont (1)
ECHO Lake Aquarium & Science Center (Burlington)

Virginia (1)
**Virginia Aquarium (Virginia Beach)

Washington (1)
**Seattle Aquarium (Seattle)

Wisconsin (2)
Beaver Springs Park Aquarium (Wisconsin Dells)
Discovery World: Reiman Aquarium (Milwaukee)

** I've visited 75 of the aquariums on this list. I've technically visited 77 American aquariums but two of them have since closed down. (Portland Aquarium and National Aquarium in Washington, D.C.)
 
in the usa there are small aquariums featuring native aquatic species at several federal fws fish hatcheries and research centers.
 
snowleopard said:
The United States of America is certainly a wonderful nation to visit if one is a zoo enthusiast...
Click to expand...
It's a wonderful nation to visit for other reasons too. :p

I have visited 11 of those on your list, so I am right behind you (not). I really don't have much of a desire to see others, including the three in my state (none of which I have visited). The only one I really do want to see is the famed Monterey Bay Aquarium, which I hope to see one day in combination with a drive down the scenic Pacific Coast Highway. A couple sections are washed out right now, so it will be a couple years at least before that drive is possible.
 
As a corollary to this, how many zoos are there in the U.S. that have full aquariums within them?

The ones that I know of are:
Omaha Zoo
Point Defiance in Tacoma, Washington
Pittsburgh Zoo
Houston Zoo
San Antonio Zoo
Indianapolis Zoo (Waters building)
 
DavidBrown said:
As a corollary to this, how many zoos are there in the U.S. that have full aquariums within them?

The ones that I know of are:
Omaha Zoo
Point Defiance in Tacoma, Washington
Pittsburgh Zoo
Houston Zoo
San Antonio Zoo
Indianapolis Zoo (Waters building)
Click to expand...
Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium, Safari Park
 
DavidBrown said:
As a corollary to this, how many zoos are there in the U.S. that have full aquariums within them?

The ones that I know of are:
Omaha Zoo
Point Defiance in Tacoma, Washington
Pittsburgh Zoo
Houston Zoo
San Antonio Zoo
Indianapolis Zoo (Waters building)
Click to expand...

The Toledo Zoo has one. I would count Living Coasts at Brookfield Zoo as a full aquarium.
 
I've been to 15 on the list (16 if you include the old National Aquarium in DC), ypu may want to remove the Aquazoo in NY from your list, they recently closed and became a restaurant that happens to have a few fish tanks now. I wouldn't classify it as an Aquarium anymore.
 
It does seem as if I can eliminate two of the aquariums on this list, taking the USA grand total down to 147. Aquarium at Rockport Harbour (Texas) was recently destroyed by Hurricane Harvey and the Aquazoo Aquarium (New York) is now a restaurant with a few small tanks and so it makes sense to disregard those two establishments.

I think that one could make a case for these dozen American zoos as having "proper" aquariums:

Baton Rouge Zoo (river otters and 30 small fish tanks in "L'aquarium de Louisiane")
Brookfield Zoo (if one were to count the Living Coast and Seven Seas buildings)
Houston Zoo
Indianapolis Zoo (Oceans complex)
John Ball Zoo
Oklahoma City Zoo (Aquatics building)
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo
Pittsburgh Zoo
Point Defiance Zoo
San Antonio Zoo
Toledo Zoo (30,000 sq. ft. aquarium)
Wildlife World Zoo

I've visited all of those dozen zoos and I've toured the aquatic facilities and in my opinion Omaha and Pittsburgh clearly have the two best aquariums that are found within American zoos. Indianapolis has a very good building that focuses on mammals, while Toledo spent $25 million renovating their historic, 1930's-era aquarium in recent years and so I'm due for a revisit there. Point Defiance Zoo is opening its Pacific Seas Aquarium next year, a 35,000 sq. ft. building that will be larger than just about any Sea Life and could (in theory) stand alone as a separate attraction due to its size. Of course it will surely not compete with Omaha as whenever Omaha builds anything then it is usually the best of its kind. The aquarium there is at least 70,000 sq. ft. in size!
 
snowleopard said:
It does seem as if I can eliminate two of the aquariums on this list, taking the USA grand total down to 147. Aquarium at Rockport Harbour (Texas) was recently destroyed by Hurricane Harvey and the Aquazoo Aquarium (New York) is now a restaurant with a few small tanks and so it makes sense to disregard those two establishments.

I think that one could make a case for these dozen American zoos as having "proper" aquariums:

Baton Rouge Zoo (river otters and 30 small fish tanks in "L'aquarium de Louisiane")
Brookfield Zoo (if one were to count the Living Coast and Seven Seas buildings)
Houston Zoo
Indianapolis Zoo (Oceans complex)
John Ball Zoo
Oklahoma City Zoo (Aquatics building)
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo
Pittsburgh Zoo
Point Defiance Zoo
San Antonio Zoo
Toledo Zoo (30,000 sq. ft. aquarium)
Wildlife World Zoo

I've visited all of those dozen zoos and I've toured the aquatic facilities and in my opinion Omaha and Pittsburgh clearly have the two best aquariums that are found within American zoos. Indianapolis has a very good building that focuses on mammals, while Toledo spent $25 million renovating their historic, 1930's-era aquarium in recent years and so I'm due for a revisit there. Point Defiance Zoo is opening its Pacific Seas Aquarium next year, a 35,000 sq. ft. building that will be larger than just about any Sea Life and could (in theory) stand alone as a separate attraction due to its size. Of course it will surely not compete with Omaha as whenever Omaha builds anything then it is usually the best of its kind. The aquarium there is at least 70,000 sq. ft. in size!
Click to expand...
There is also the Greensboro Science Center's SciQuarium: fishing cats, Asian small clawed otters, and African penguins, as well as a mixed fish-and-monkey Amazon exhibit and a few other tanks.
 
snowleopard said:
It does seem as if I can eliminate two of the aquariums on this list, taking the USA grand total down to 147. Aquarium at Rockport Harbour (Texas) was recently destroyed by Hurricane Harvey and the Aquazoo Aquarium (New York) is now a restaurant with a few small tanks and so it makes sense to disregard those two establishments.
Click to expand...

The Columbus Zoo is calling itself the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium now. What aquarium exhibits do they have in addition to manatees?
 
DavidBrown said:
The Columbus Zoo is calling itself the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium now. What aquarium exhibits do they have in addition to manatees?
Click to expand...
There is an aquarium building next to the manatee building (called Discovery Reef, I believe). It is somewhat small. There are a few stand-alone exhibits, a touch tank, a large shark/reef tank, and a coral lab.
 
DavidBrown said:
The Columbus Zoo is calling itself the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium now. What aquarium exhibits do they have in addition to manatees?
Click to expand...

It has been the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium for many years now. Up until maybe 5 years ago or so, the name was much more appropriate, but the old Aquarium (which had been around for many years) was closed; in the past, it had a small but diverse collection of species (it included, among other exhibits, various freshwater tanks (which are now absent from the collection), Asian small-clawed otters, and a small shark touch tank) and, towards the end, it housed some of the remnants of the zoo's invertebrate collection (formerly on display in a building by the present-day food court) and amphibian collection (often, like today, on display with the reptiles, but there was a time that there was a separate amphibian building). At present, the "aquarium" collection is limited to Discovery Reef, the manatee building, and Stingray Bay.

When the downtown campus of the zoo was being planned prior to the big levy loss, sharks were to be a key feature, along with some freshwater species from South America, if I recall correctly.
 
I have visited four:
Shedd Aquarium
SEA LIFE Minnesota
Discovery World: Reiman Aquarium
Sea World Orlando
 
snowleopard said:
It does seem as if I can eliminate two of the aquariums on this list, taking the USA grand total down to 147. Aquarium at Rockport Harbour (Texas) was recently destroyed by Hurricane Harvey and the Aquazoo Aquarium (New York) is now a restaurant with a few small tanks and so it makes sense to disregard those two establishments.

I think that one could make a case for these dozen American zoos as having "proper" aquariums:

Baton Rouge Zoo (river otters and 30 small fish tanks in "L'aquarium de Louisiane")
Brookfield Zoo (if one were to count the Living Coast and Seven Seas buildings)
Houston Zoo
Indianapolis Zoo (Oceans complex)
John Ball Zoo
Oklahoma City Zoo (Aquatics building)
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo
Pittsburgh Zoo
Point Defiance Zoo
San Antonio Zoo
Toledo Zoo (30,000 sq. ft. aquarium)
Wildlife World Zoo

I've visited all of those dozen zoos and I've toured the aquatic facilities and in my opinion Omaha and Pittsburgh clearly have the two best aquariums that are found within American zoos. Indianapolis has a very good building that focuses on mammals, while Toledo spent $25 million renovating their historic, 1930's-era aquarium in recent years and so I'm due for a revisit there. Point Defiance Zoo is opening its Pacific Seas Aquarium next year, a 35,000 sq. ft. building that will be larger than just about any Sea Life and could (in theory) stand alone as a separate attraction due to its size. Of course it will surely not compete with Omaha as whenever Omaha builds anything then it is usually the best of its kind. The aquarium there is at least 70,000 sq. ft. in size!
Click to expand...
What about Minnesota Zoo's Discovery Bay?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top