Located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the Tennessee Aquarium is one of the largest freshwater aquariums in the world. It features over 12,000 animals, including not just fish, but also birds, reptiles, amphibians, aquatic mammals, and insects. Since opening in 1992, millions of visitors have walked through the exhibits on display.
The Tennessee Aquarium is a freshwater aquarium, and it has two separate buildings for visitor "journeys.'' The first is the River Journey, which is a diamond-shaped building filled with animals that call rivers home. It includes a number of species that are found in the Tennessee River, which is found less than a block from the aquarium. The second building, called the Ocean Journey, includes both freshwater and saltwater species. The emphasis in both building is on freshwater animals, however.
The aquarium's Penguin Rock is one of the most popular exhibits at the facility. This part of the aquarium opened in 2007 after a huge fund raising campaign, and today there are both macaroni and gentoo penguins living at the aquarium. They have nine macaroni penguins (four males, five females) and ten gentoo penguins (five males, five females) for guests to watch. All of the penguins wear colored ID bracelets, so guests can pick them out according to the information found at the exhibit.
Of course, the fish at the Tennessee Aquarium are some of the main attractions for guests. The Ocean Journey has a number of sharks, including some that are over ten feet long. Some of the sharks you can find here include the brown banded bamboo shark, the epaulette shark, the sand tiger shark, and the bonnethead shark. The aquarium is also known for its seahorse collection, which includes yellow seahorses, lined seahorses, longsnout seahorses, potbelly seahorses, and Barbour's seahorses. Other fish found at the aquarium are trout, stringrays, bass, eels, crappies, catfish, seadragons, sturgeons, and pipefish. They also have a great barracuda exhibit that shows off some of the most vicious creatures in the water.
The only species of mammal that called the Tennessee Aquarium home is the river otter. This animal is a member of the weasel family and lives in rivers and streams throughout the United States. Guests can see the otter couple at the Tennessee Aquarium's Cove Forest, which has a large pool with boulders and surrounded by mountain laurel, flowers, and other plants. Nearby, guests can visit the aquarium's butterfly garden with species from both North and South America, and the Boneless Beauties gallery has a number of animals, including jellyfish, Pacific octopuses, and huge spider crabs. Along the self-guided tour, visitors can read information about the species they are seeing, as well as interact with the animals in some of the facility's hands-on exhibits.
The Tennessee Aquarium is open daily from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM, with the last ticket sale at 6:00 PM. The aquarium also has an IMAX theater that's open daily, as well as a two-hour River Gorge Explorer tour that takes guests out on a boat on the Tennessee River to see plants and animals native to the area. The aquarium's basic ticket price is $21.95 for adults and $14.95 for children, and there are a number of packages to help guests save money. For more information, the zoo can be contacted at 800-262-0695.
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