How many Aquariums in the USA

Z

Zebraduiker

Well-Known Member
Does anybody know, how many self-acting aquariums excist in the USA ? And don't count in aquariums in zoos.

Or does anyone has an idea, where I could get the information ? Thanks.
:)

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I've read before that there are between 48-52 accredited aquariums in the United States, although that number might well include a handful in Canada and/or Mexico.
 
I think, most zoos in the states do not have an aquarium anymore, because there are now to many other aquariums, so its to expensive and not necessary for the zoos, to have an own aquarium, do I see that correct ? Cincinnati has closed the aquarium and rebuild it into the Manatee Exhibit. Which zoos in the States still have an own aquarium ? I've seen one in Toledo,Houston,Columbus,Pittsburgh, and I know, the Wildwilfe World Zoo Litchfield has an aquarium, opened in december 2008.
 
Omaha, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Minnesota, Denver, Brookfield, John Ball (Grand Rapids), Columbus, Riverbanks, Memphis, Pt. Defiance all have fairly extensive aquarium facilities, although in many cases the aquatic exhibits are distributed around the zoo, not just clustered in one "aquarium" building.
 
I find it tough not to include some aquariums that are in zoos as great aquariums by themselves. Some aquariums are realtively small and make up a portion of the collection (i.e. staten island, toledo, cleveland etc.) at the zoo and I can understand why it wouldn't be included on a list of aquariums. But some aquariums in zoos should be included on the list. Pittsburgh is a great example. Their aquarium would still be excellent if it wasn't in the zoo (whether you include Waters Edge or not) and the zoo collection is still great. Being from the Northeast I always had aquariums and zoos separate and personally thought we had better aquariums than zoos (New England, Mystic, NY). I envy people that grew up with zoos that had aquariums and especially people growing up in the Pittsburgh area and were lucky enough to see Chuckles before he passed.
 
The book "America's Best Zoos" lists the 10 best zoos with aquariums in the United States:

# 1 - Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo (Scott Aquarium)
# 2 - Pittsburgh Zoo

The rest are in alphabetical order:

Houston Zoo
Louisville Zoo
Milwaukee County Zoo
Minnesota Zoo
Oklahoma City Zoo
Point Defiance Zoo
Riverbanks Zoo
Toledo Zoo
 
I think maybe the posts have gotten away from the original question. I culled this list from a bigger list of animal places. Disclaimer: This list is some years old, so some of these places may have closed, or may have changed names. I corrected a few. At least one that was on the list I know had never opened, and there are bound to be some that are new that I don't have on the list:

Name City State
Dauphin Island Sea Lab Dauphin Island Alabama
Prince William Sound Science Center Cordova Alaska
Alaska SeaLife Centre Seward Alaska
National Park Aquarium Hot Springs Arkansas
Ocean Institute Dana Point California
Doheny State Beach Visitor Center Dana Point California
Birch Aquarium at Scripps La Jolla California
Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific Long Beach California
Roundhouse Lab and Aquarium Manhattan Beach California
UCLA Ocean Discovery Center Monica Beach California
Monterey Bay Aquarium Monterey Bay California
Morro Bay Aquarium Morro Bay California
Sea World of California San Diego California
Aquarium of the Bay San Francisco California
Steinhart Aquarium San Francisco California
Cabrillo Marine Aquarium San Pedro California
The Marine Mammal Care Center at Fort MacArthur San Pedro California
Santa Barbara Sea Center Santa Barbara California
Seymour Marine Discovery Centre Santa Cruz California
Ocean Discovery Centre Santa Monica California
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (formerly Marine World) Vallejo California
Denver's Downtown Aquarium Denver Colorado
Mystic Marinelife Aquarium Mystic Connecticut
Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk Norwalk Connecticut
National Aquarium Washington DC
Parker Manatee Aquarium Bradenton Florida
Clearwater Marine Aquarium Clearwater Florida
Dolphin Connection Duck Key Florida
Gulfarium Fort Walton Beach Florida
Dolphin Research Center Grassy Key Florida
Theater of the Sea Islamorada Florida
Marinelife Center Juno Beach Florida
Key West Municipal Aquarium Key West Florida
The Seas Lake Buena Vista Florida
Marineland Marineland Florida
Miami Seaquarium Miami Florida
Discovery Cove Orlando Florida
Sea World Orlando Florida
Mote Marine Aquarium Sarasota Florida
Pier Aquarium St. Petersburg Florida
Florida Aquarium Tampa Florida
Georgia Aquarium Atlanta Georgia
Waikiki Aquarium Honolulu Hawaii
Dolphin Quest Kameula Hawaii
Maui Ocean Center Maui Hawaii
Dolphin Quest Waikiki Hawaii
Sea Life Park Hawaii Waimanalo Hawaii
John G. Shedd Aquarium Chicago Illinois
Aquarium Center Des Moines Iowa
Newport Aquarium Newport Kentucky
Aquarium of the Americas New Orleans Louisiana
Gulf of Maine Aquarium Portland Maine
National Aquarium in Baltimore Baltimore Maryland
Calvert Marine Museum Solomons Maryland
New England Aquarium Boston Massachusetts
Kirkham Aquarium Springfield Massachusetts
Aqua Circus of Cape Cod West Yarmouth Massachusetts
Woods Hole Aquarium Woods Hole Massachusetts
Belle Isle Aquarium Detroit Michigan
UnderWater World Bloomington Minnesota
Great Lakes Aquarium Duluth Minnesota
J.L. Scott Marine Education Center and Aquarium Biloxi Mississippi
Marine Life Oceanarium Gulfport Mississippi
Ak-Sar-Ben Aquarium Gretna Nebraska
Mirage Dolphin Habitat Las Vegas Nevada
Mirage Aquarium Las Vegas Nevada
Amoskeag Fishways Learning Center Manchester New Hampshire
New Jersey State Aquarium at Camden Camden New Jersey
Jenkinson's Aquarium Point Pleasant Beach New Jersey
Albuquerque Aquarium Albuquerque New Mexico
Aquarium for Wildlife Conservation/Brooklyn Aquarium Brooklyn New York
Cape Vincent Aquarium Cape Vincent New York
Cold Spring Harbour Fish Hatchery and Aquarium Cold Spring Harbour New York
Long Island Aquarium Long Island New York
St. Lawrence Aquarium Massena New York
Aquarium of Niagara Falls Niagara Falls New York
Atlantis Marine World Riverhead New York
North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores Atlantic Beach North Carolina
North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher Kure Beach North Carolina
North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island Manteo North Carolina
Sea World Aurora Ohio
Oceana - Marinelife Center Sandusky Ohio
Oregon Coast Aquarium Newport Oregon
South Carolina Aquarium Charleston South Carolina
Ripley's Aquarium Myrtle Beach South Carolina
Marine Life Aquarium Rapid City South Dakota
Tennessee Aquarium Chattanooga Tennesee
Capital of Texas Aquarium Austin Texas
Texas State Aquarium Corpus Christi Texas
Dallas Aquarium Dallas Texas
Dallas World Aquarium Dallas Texas
Moody Gardens Rainforest Galveston Texas
Sea World of Texas San Antonio Texas
Echo Lake Aqurium and Science Center Burlington Vermont
Nauticus National Maritime Centre Norfolk Virginia
Virginia Marine Science Museum Virginia Beach Virginia
Poulsbo Marine Science Center Poulsbo Washington
The Seattle Aquarium Seattle Washington
 
Impressive list Talli! I just took a few minutes to scroll down the list of zoos and aquariums on the AZA website, and I counted 38 aquariums. That is only the accredited establishments, and I included all 3 of the Seaworlds. Obviously there are loads more that are not officially accredited by the AZA.
 
I could post the whole list in another thread, but as I said, it's some years old and could use a major cleanup. I notice I missed removing Sea World of Ohio which I belive closed, changed hands, and no longer has animals. Is there a way to upload an Excel file? It would be a nice resource if people worked on additions, deletions and corrections.
 
Thanks Talli for that list ! Some aquariums are missing, but its to hard to get a complete list of all aquariums in teh states. I would not call Seaworld ,Six Flags and Dalals World Aquarium true aquariums. Seaworld and Six Flags are Marine parks or Ameusement parks and teh Dallas Wordl Aquarium, founded as an aquarium, is more than an indoor zoo than an aquarium, they keeping more birds, reptiles and mammals than fishes now. But what makes an aquarium ? Keeping only fishes or marine mammals and water birds also ?

There is book, dated 1989, "marine Parks and aquaria in the united states" with listed 95 aquariums and marine parks in the states, and since then, a few more aquariums were added.

Another questions, which are the 10 aquariums with the most animal species in the USA ? My suggesstions are Shedd,Aquarium of the Pacific, Monterey,Georgia,Boston,Baltimore,NewYork,Tampa,Steinhardt ?,and maybe Chattanooga ?

Does anybody has visited the new Steinhardt Aquarium at California Acdemy of Science or the temporariy Steinhardt Aquarium during the construction of the new museum building ?
 
Thanks Talli for that list ! Some aquariums are missing, but its to hard to get a complete list of all aquariums in teh states. I would not call Seaworld ,Six Flags and Dalals World Aquarium true aquariums. Seaworld and Six Flags are Marine parks or Ameusement parks and teh Dallas Wordl Aquarium, founded as an aquarium, is more than an indoor zoo than an aquarium, they keeping more birds, reptiles and mammals than fishes now. But what makes an aquarium ? Keeping only fishes or marine mammals and water birds also ?

There is book, dated 1989, "marine Parks and aquaria in the united states" with listed 95 aquariums and marine parks in the states, and since then, a few more aquariums were added.

Another questions, which are the 10 aquariums with the most animal species in the USA ? My suggesstions are Shedd,Aquarium of the Pacific, Monterey,Georgia,Boston,Baltimore,NewYork,Tampa,Steinhardt ?,and maybe Chattanooga ?

Does anybody has visited the new Steinhardt Aquarium at California Acdemy of Science or the temporariy Steinhardt Aquarium during the construction of the new museum building ?
 
If you can tell me the missing aquariums, I'd like to add them to my spreadsheet.
You had asked not to include aquariums within zoos, but I didn't know whether you wanted to include marine parks. To me, any place that displays non-domestic animals is a zoo, so it's all what you're looking for. Some places, like Underwater World in the Mall of America don't have aquarium in the name, but are clearly aquariums. We could probably discuss Dallas World Aquarium all day. Clearly they've added a lot of non-aquatic animals, but they're still in one big building, so to me an aquarium. Of course, again, to me an aquarium is an aquatic zoo, so probably splitting hairs.
I haven't been to Steinhardt since they moved, but I don't remember it being up there in size with the bigger aquariums before the move. I would think definitely Tennessee Aquarium (Chattanooga) would be in the top 10 in number of species. Others that might be in the running I would say would include Denver, Newport, and Camden.
 
Talli said:
If you can tell me the missing aquariums, I'd like to add them to my spreadsheet.
You had asked not to include aquariums within zoos, but I didn't know whether you wanted to include marine parks. To me, any place that displays non-domestic animals is a zoo, so it's all what you're looking for. Some places, like Underwater World in the Mall of America don't have aquarium in the name, but are clearly aquariums. We could probably discuss Dallas World Aquarium all day. Clearly they've added a lot of non-aquatic animals, but they're still in one big building, so to me an aquarium. Of course, again, to me an aquarium is an aquatic zoo, so probably splitting hairs.
I haven't been to Steinhardt since they moved, but I don't remember it being up there in size with the bigger aquariums before the move. I would think definitely Tennessee Aquarium (Chattanooga) would be in the top 10 in number of species. Others that might be in the running I would say would include Denver, Newport, and Camden.
Click to expand...

The new Steinhart Aquarium has some really interesting and novel exhibits. There are essentially four major new areas, all contained within the larger context of a "21st Century Natural History Museum." A huge and deep living coral reef, a large northern California coast tank (with tidal action), a giant rainforest including acrylic tunnel through a flooded forest, and a recreation of the original aquarium's Alligator Swamp. A series of smaller exhibits surround the lower level.

Overall, the species diversity is significantly lower than the old aquarium, which was much more a traditional collection-oriented facility. In its heyday, the original Steinhart was easily one of the top 5 or 6 in the country in terms of diversity, but the new version is much more about ideas, for better and for worse.
 
This interesting link states that when the Vancouver Aquarium opened in 1956 there were only 5 aquariums in North America. It goes on to say that there are approximately 48 in North America now, with over 200 worldwide:

History of the Vancouver Aquarium | vanaqua.org
 
With so many zoo books on the market, I have long felt that a good aquarium book is long overdue. Not only a general review book, along the lines of Alan's "America's Best Zoos" (substitute "Aquariums" for "Zoos"), but also an in-depth view of the aquarium movement today (conservation issues, challenges of maintaining underwater exhibits, etc).

Anyone know of any such books?
 
Will this work?

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Window-Sea-Behind-Americas-Aquariums/dp/0762739703/ref=sr_1_104?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246835143&sr=1-104]Amazon.com: Window to the Sea: Behind the Scenes at America's Great Public Aquariums: John Grant, Ray Jones: Books[/ame]
 
Sorry what does the original question mean by "self acting"..?

Wow NZ is doing really well then with 3 major aquariums for 4.2 million people... IF USA has only 48 for 300 million plus...
 
@NZ Jeremy: the United States still has probably 25% of the world's public aquariums, including masterpieces such as Shedd, Georgia and Monterey Bay. I'm not even sure if that list includes the enormous Seaworlds. But I am also impressed with New Zealand's average: 4.2 million people, 3 aquariums, 40 million sheep.:) I'll have to visit one day!
 
That's 3 major aquariums and plenty of minor ones... It's also closer to 80 million sheep..!

Australia is pretty good too per head of population with large aquariums in Melbourne, Mooloolaba, Sydney and Perth and two smaller ones at Manly and Darwin plus the zoo/aquarium at Canberra... That's 7 good sized aquariums for 22 million people...
 
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