Largest Aquariums in North America

snowleopard

snowleopard

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There are approximately 50 aquariums in North America, and they range in size from tiny basements (National Aquarium in Washington, D.C.) to mega-complexes such as the one found in Atlanta, Georgia. The Vancouver Aquarium often advertises itself as the fifth largest aquarium in North America, and I've been pondering which 4 aquariums are actually larger. The Seaworld facilities are massive, but I'm not sure that they are counted as true aquariums due to the theme park nature of the institutions. However, the orca tanks at Seaworld San Diego, Orlando and San Antonio must be at least several million gallons in size.

# 1: Georgia Aquarium - 8.1 million gallons of water, including 6.3 million gallons inside the Ocean Voyager/Whale Shark tank. With the $110 million Dolphinarium set to open in 2010 this aquarium will continue to not only be the largest in North America but the largest on the entire planet.

# 2 Shedd Aquarium - 5 million gallons, and for many years this brilliant Chicago establishment was the largest in North America. The quality of the exhibitry at the Shedd Aquarium is amazing.

After those two behemoths which aquarium comes next? Monterey Bay Aquarium is around 2.5 million gallons on its 3.3 acres, and the Vancouver Aquarium is also 2.5 million gallons on its 2.1 acres. Would the National Aquarium in Baltimore be a candidate? Marineland in Ontario is also a massive complex, and there must be other possibilities as well.
 
Does biggest = best when it comes to aquariums?

I've not visited either the Georgia Aquarium or the Shedd Aqaurium. Are either of them as good as the Monterey Bay Aquarium?
 
Actually, the Living Seas at EPCOT in Orlando, FL is #2 in volume with 5.7 million gallons
 
So we have the first 3. Could Tennesse Aquarium be No. 4? (or Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach?).
 
@David Brown.

The "biggest" must not be the"best", not only when it becomes to zoos or aquariums....

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is much better than Gerogia or Shedd Aquarium, the quality of the animal welfare and the exhibits has a much higher standard at Monterey than at Sheed, which isn't a bad Aquarium, it is much older than Monterey and the new parts at Shedd are excellent.

Georgia Aquarium has a very big tank for whalesharks and mantarays, but it's general quality is not that good, all the other parts and exhibits are not that good as it could be expected at such a young, expensive aquarium, and with the opening of dolphin tales, it has shown once more what it is build for-mainly for the visitor entertainment.

By the way, it isn't the "largest" aquarium in the world, there are so many others with much more exhibits, animals, species and visitors, so it has only the biggest single tank.

@Snowleopard. Which is the biggest aquarium on the entire planet ? And what makes an aquarium the largest ?
 
The National Aquarium in Baltimore is 2.5 million gallons. But that only counts exhibits and not any animal care facilities.
 
gerenuk said:
Actually, the Living Seas at EPCOT in Orlando, FL is #2 in volume with 5.7 million gallons
Click to expand...

The Living Seas changed its name (after a protracted period of construction) to The Seas with Nemo & Friends about 5 years ago. That just goes to show how immensely popular the film Finding Nemo still is!

A couple of smaller aquariums that are excellent are Oregon Coast and Birch, and I've personally visited many of the largest in North America: Georgia, Shedd, Monterey Bay, Baltimore, Tennessee, Vancouver, Seattle, Aquarium of the Pacific, Steinhart, etc. I suppose that there are many categories when it comes to evaulating the size or quality of an aquarium, including gallons of water, number of species, diversity of captive wildlife, square footage, etc. Overall the larger institutions are generally the most successful and popular due to the fact that they have a broad range of animals in above average surroundings, and there is also a subjective factor when it comes to ranking zoos and aquariums. Many facilities advertise themselves with facts, as for example Vancouver Aquarium often declares that it is the 5th largest in North America. Seattle Aquarium always mentions in its year-end report that it is the #8 aquarium in America in terms of attendance, so there are many ways to evaulate an establishment. The key for individuals is to spend money travelling to various aquariums as then they can be fortunate enough to garner knowledge about a wide range of facilites.
 
@Snowleopard

And which Aquarium is now the largest on the entire planet ? It's defenitely not the Georgia Aquarium, I've seen "bigger" aquariums than GA...As I said, they do have only the largest single tank, but they are not the largest aquarium on the entire planet. By the way, how you can say that without been to all aquariums on the entire planet ?

Have you ever been to Oceanopolis Brest in France ? They have more than 1000 species, the building is bigger than Georgia Aquarium and they have more animals there...Not that much water, but more animals, and whats more important, its a seriously, scientific, non-profit aquarium, which a more high standard in animal welfare and presentation than the Georgia Aquarium.
 
Fuzzball said:
And which Aquarium is now the largest on the entire planet ? It's defenitely not the Georgia Aquarium, I've seen "bigger" aquariums than GA..
Click to expand...

When people talk about aquarium size they usually talk about water volume. You continue to ask Snowleopard which is the largest and in the first post he said Georgia. You are the only person that has claimed you know larger aquariums. In total water volume, what aquarium is bigger than Georgia? The huge Marine Life Park in Singapore isn't open yet and until it is it doesn't count.

I am not saying largest = best.
 
The real biggest aquarium in the world is the Pacific Ocean. Anyone want to dispute that? :)
 
In water volume Georgia Aquarium is the"largest" aquarium, but personally I think, it belongs more than only water volumne to be the largest aquarium in the world, so the count of animals and species, count of exhibits, the size of the building and count of visitors. With the exception of the last point, Ocenopolis Brest is larger than the Georgia Aquarium and there are a couple of japanese aquariums, which are bigger except the water volumne. So GA should not say about themselfs to be the"largest"aquarium of the world, they should say instead of that to be the aquarium with the largest water volume and the largest single tank in the world. That's a diffrence.

But nevertheless, size doesn't matter, GA may be the aquarium with the most water, but who cares about that fact ? The collection ins't not that special with the exception of whalesharks and manta rays, all the other species are mostly common and can be seen in so many other aquariums. And, as I said, the exhibits are not special, so the "largest" Aquarium in the world is in big parts the "largest" Dissappointment when it comes to public aquariums, but this makes it not a "bad" aquarium, its nice, a visit to that place is a good day and Ocean Voyager is a fascinating, great exhibt, but that's all.
 
@David Brown.

I'm not sure about that, isn't the atlantic not a few liters of water bigger ? But the Pacific Ocean has defenitely the better "collection" !
 
Fuzzball said:
isn't the atlantic not a few liters of water bigger ?
Click to expand...

Atlantic: surface ~105 million km², volume ~350 million km³.
Pacific: surface ~165 million km², volume ~620 million km³.
Some variations depending on what you include (e.g., if you include sub-oceans, like the Mediterranean in the Atlantic and the Gulf of California in the Pacific) but the Pacific is consistently larger.

But we are getting off topic. In water volume, does any North American aquarium not yet mentioned in this thread fit in top 5?
 
My misunderstanding, I got really excited and clearly didn't read the whole sentence. In the news clip it states its the largest though...
 
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