Here is a Review & Full Species List of the Saint Louis Aquarium at Union Station as of March 5th, 2022:
The Saint Louis Aquarium is a decent-sized aquatic facility located at Union Station in Saint Louis, Missouri. The current day facility was opened on Christmas day of 2019 and costs a mere $45 million. The Aquarium is located in what was formerly the Station’s main retail space and comes out to be two stories tall and roughly about 120,000-square-feet in size. With this, the Aquarium contains over 1 million gallons of both fresh and saltwater dispersed throughout six main galleries including, The Confluence Gallery, Global Rivers, Changing Rivers, The Ocean Shore, Shark Canyon, and The Deep. Many of these displays exhibit rather common aquatic species that can be found at many other facilities. General admission for the Aquarium is $25 for adults and $18 for children and does not include any of the other experiences at Union Station. On average, the Aquarium equates to a 1-3 hour visit. It is also good to note that the Aquarium is heavily focused on interaction and hands-on experiences, especially for the younger generation. In my opinion, I rank the Saint Louis Aquarium as number 7/8 of all the aquatic facilities I’ve had the pleasure of going through, just below the Florida Aquarium in Tampa, and above The Sea Life at the Mall of America. Overall, I rank it at #26/33 of all animal-related facilities in total, and I’d compare its quality to that of the Scott Aquarium at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo.
NOTE: I will be composing and eventually uploading a tour-style video of the Saint Louis Aquarium to my YouTube page in the near future.
Upon entering Union Station you are met with a rather large-sized building that contains the Aquarium inside. Continuing onward the entrance to the Aquarium and the wait line can be seen. As of my visit, the Aquarium is still doing timed ticket entry only. Past this and a picture-taking area is what’s known as the Grand Lobby, containing a massive and beautiful live ceiling projection.
- Grand Plaza + African Cichlid Tank
In the far backside of the room is a medium-sized tank disguised as a gear clock for over 300:
Welcome to the Confluence Gallery…
The Confluence Gallery is focused on the ecosystem of the Mississippi River’s Confluence.
First up, is a larger sized multispecies tank containing:
- Mississippi River Tank
Welcome to Global Rivers…
Multiple smaller terrariums:
A small touch pool for:
Another large-sized multispecies tank for fish from around the world:
A separate medium-sized tank including a view from a bubble:
A small rainforest terrarium:
Welcome to Changing Rivers…
*Continues upstairs*
A rather large exhibit complete with rockwork, a mulch sleeping area, and a waterfall that falls down into a shallow stream flowing throughout the exhibit. The otter’s main pool and underwater viewing is located across from the Mangrove Forest Display downstairs and is quite large containing minimal rockwork and a bubble viewing area:
- North American River Otter Underwater VIewing
- North American River Otter Exhibit
A single open-toped wetland display containing:
Animal Encounters Area (Rotational):
“Lord Stanley”:
A small stand-alone display for:
Welcome to the Ocean Shore…
A multilevel rockpool:
A decent-sized touch pool (thank goodness it’s not a “Stingray Bay”) for:
- Stingray + Others Touch Tank
Three small tanks lining the wall near the entrance to Shark Canyon:
Welcome to Shark Canyon…
*Proceeds into a narrow dark hallway heading back downstairs*
The Shark Canyon is the largest and most popular tank in the entirety of the Aquarium containing over 250,000 gallons of saltwater and is home to around 45 signed species of rays, fish, and two reptiles all part of one coral reef ecosystem. The tank can be viewed through multiple small portal windows along the hall taking one back downstairs, through a medium-size curved glass panel, then again at multiple times through the ceiling, and finally at one much larger curved window with a separate viewing area.
- Shark Canyon Main Viewing Area
Welcome to The Deep…
A smaller dark tank with replicated seaweed structures for:
A medium-sized vibrant coral reef (I have no idea how this is part of “The Deep”):
A tank viewable from a bubble that creates a distorted view making it appear much larger than it actually is:
Two very dark individual tanks connected by a small tube in between:
A video projection display that projects deep-sea creatures into the “exhibit” includes:
A smaller oval shaped tank:
Yet another cylindrical tank (I think this used to have moon jellies):
*Continues into the gift shop and out the exit*
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Thank you for reading my Review & Full Species List of the Saint Louis Aquarium at Union Station, please feel free to make any corrections below. Special thanks to anyone who helped ID species in the Species ID Gallery on ZooChat.
The Saint Louis Aquarium is a decent-sized aquatic facility located at Union Station in Saint Louis, Missouri. The current day facility was opened on Christmas day of 2019 and costs a mere $45 million. The Aquarium is located in what was formerly the Station’s main retail space and comes out to be two stories tall and roughly about 120,000-square-feet in size. With this, the Aquarium contains over 1 million gallons of both fresh and saltwater dispersed throughout six main galleries including, The Confluence Gallery, Global Rivers, Changing Rivers, The Ocean Shore, Shark Canyon, and The Deep. Many of these displays exhibit rather common aquatic species that can be found at many other facilities. General admission for the Aquarium is $25 for adults and $18 for children and does not include any of the other experiences at Union Station. On average, the Aquarium equates to a 1-3 hour visit. It is also good to note that the Aquarium is heavily focused on interaction and hands-on experiences, especially for the younger generation. In my opinion, I rank the Saint Louis Aquarium as number 7/8 of all the aquatic facilities I’ve had the pleasure of going through, just below the Florida Aquarium in Tampa, and above The Sea Life at the Mall of America. Overall, I rank it at #26/33 of all animal-related facilities in total, and I’d compare its quality to that of the Scott Aquarium at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo.
NOTE: I will be composing and eventually uploading a tour-style video of the Saint Louis Aquarium to my YouTube page in the near future.
Upon entering Union Station you are met with a rather large-sized building that contains the Aquarium inside. Continuing onward the entrance to the Aquarium and the wait line can be seen. As of my visit, the Aquarium is still doing timed ticket entry only. Past this and a picture-taking area is what’s known as the Grand Lobby, containing a massive and beautiful live ceiling projection.
In the far backside of the room is a medium-sized tank disguised as a gear clock for over 300:
- African Cichlids
Welcome to the Confluence Gallery…
The Confluence Gallery is focused on the ecosystem of the Mississippi River’s Confluence.
First up, is a larger sized multispecies tank containing:
- Smallmouth Buffalo, Bigmouth Buffalo, Channel Catfish, Longnose Gar, Striped Seabass, Bluegill, Shovelnose Sturgeon, Walleye, Mississippi Paddlefish, Grass Carp, Freshwater Drum, Black Crappie, White Crappie, Spotted Gar, Largemouth Bass, Bowfin
- (Unspecified)
Welcome to Global Rivers…
Multiple smaller terrariums:
- Rainbowfish
- Red Crystal Shrimp
- Bumblebee Dart Frog
A small touch pool for:
- Doctor Fish (Red Garra)
Another large-sized multispecies tank for fish from around the world:
- Banded Cichlid, Barb, Nile Perch, Motoro Ray, Silver Arowana, Fly River Turtle, Redtail Catfish, Ripsaw Catfish, Tambaqui, Alligator Gar, Red Devil Cichlid, Tiger Shovelnose Catfish
A separate medium-sized tank including a view from a bubble:
- Red-Bellied Piranha
- Archerfish, Horseshoe Crab, Eyespot Pufferfish, Common Scat, African Moony
A small rainforest terrarium:
- Emerald Tree Boa
Welcome to Changing Rivers…
*Continues upstairs*
A rather large exhibit complete with rockwork, a mulch sleeping area, and a waterfall that falls down into a shallow stream flowing throughout the exhibit. The otter’s main pool and underwater viewing is located across from the Mangrove Forest Display downstairs and is quite large containing minimal rockwork and a bubble viewing area:
- North American River Otter
A single open-toped wetland display containing:
- Cumberland Slider, Red-eared Slider, Yellow-bellied Slider
Animal Encounters Area (Rotational):
- Main Space: Blue-tonged Skink, Armadillo, African Spurred Tortoise, African Grey Parrot, Bearded Dragon, Tarantula, Leopard Gecko, Cane Toad, Ball Python
- Hedgehog
- Madagascar Hissing Cockroach
- Unsigned/No-show
- Bearded Dragon
- Emperor Scorpion
- Dyeing Dart Frog
“Lord Stanley”:
A small stand-alone display for:
- American Lobster
Welcome to the Ocean Shore…
A multilevel rockpool:
- Green Pincushion Urchin, Decorator Crab, Common Starfish, Chocolate Chip Sea Star
A decent-sized touch pool (thank goodness it’s not a “Stingray Bay”) for:
- Cownose Ray, Bamboo Shark, Horseshoe Crab, Southern Stingray, Stripe-legged Slipper Lobster, Slate Pencil Sea Urchin, Coral Catshark, Sergeant-major, Atlantic Stingray
Three small tanks lining the wall near the entrance to Shark Canyon:
- Assessors (Unspecified)
- Ocellaris Clownfish, Blue Tang
- Spotted Garden Eel, Lined Seahorse, Striped Shrimpfish
Welcome to Shark Canyon…
*Proceeds into a narrow dark hallway heading back downstairs*
The Shark Canyon is the largest and most popular tank in the entirety of the Aquarium containing over 250,000 gallons of saltwater and is home to around 45 signed species of rays, fish, and two reptiles all part of one coral reef ecosystem. The tank can be viewed through multiple small portal windows along the hall taking one back downstairs, through a medium-size curved glass panel, then again at multiple times through the ceiling, and finally at one much larger curved window with a separate viewing area.
- Caesar Grunt, Bar Jack, Atlantic Bumper, Blackbar Soldierfish, Blue Ring Angelfish, Porkfish, Pinktail Triggerfish, Doublesaddle Butterflyfish, French Angelfish, Bird Wrasse, Black Durgon Triggerfish, Reef Butterflyfish, Orange Band Surgeon, Bluehead Wrasse, Atlantic Spadefish, Doctorfish Tang, Sailfin Tang, Yellow Jack, Graysby Grouper, Magnificent Rabbitfish, Foxface Rabbitfish, Lookdown, Guineafowl Puffer, Elegant Unicorn Fish, Porcupine Puffer, Southern Stingray, Cownose Ray, Blue Tang Surgeonfish, Bluestripe Grunt, Queen Angelfish, Longspine Squirrelfish, Atlantic Goliath Grouper, Red Grouper, Palette Surgeonfish, Scrawled Filefish, Lesser Devil Ray, Sandbar Shark, Nurse Shark, Bonnethead Shark, Whitetip Reef Shark, Blacktip Reef Shark, Zebra Shark, Blacknose Shark, Tailight Filefish, Sunburst Butterflyfish, Sargassum Triggerfish, Green Sea Turtle
Welcome to The Deep…
A smaller dark tank with replicated seaweed structures for:
- Weedy Seadragon, Leafy Seadragon
A medium-sized vibrant coral reef (I have no idea how this is part of “The Deep”):
- Palette Surgeonfish, Pinktail Triggerfish, Yellowtail Clownfish, Fairy Basslet, Bird Wrasse, Bluehead Wrasse, Powder Drown Surgeonfish, Tomato Clownfish, Pajama Cardinalfish,
- Favia Coral, Jack-O-Lantern Coral, Monipora Capricornis, Large-Polyped Stony Coral, Angular Sea Whip, Palythoa, Flowerpot Coral, Leather Corals, Small-Polyprf Stony Coral
A tank viewable from a bubble that creates a distorted view making it appear much larger than it actually is:
- Red Lionfish
Two very dark individual tanks connected by a small tube in between:
- Pacific Giant Octopus, Pacific Blood Sea Star, Stubby Rose Anemone, Green Sea Urchin, Clonal Anemone
A video projection display that projects deep-sea creatures into the “exhibit” includes:
- Giant Squid, Coelacanth, Big Red Jellyfish, Vampire Squid, Anglerfish, Dumbo Octopus, Barreleye, Gulper Eel, Fangtooth, Oarfish, Goblin Shark, Frill Shark, Blobfish
A smaller oval shaped tank:
- Atlantic Sea Nettle
Yet another cylindrical tank (I think this used to have moon jellies):
- Green Spotted Pufferfish
*Continues into the gift shop and out the exit*
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Thank you for reading my Review & Full Species List of the Saint Louis Aquarium at Union Station, please feel free to make any corrections below. Special thanks to anyone who helped ID species in the Species ID Gallery on ZooChat.
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