Newport Aquarium

Newport Aquarium
Newport Aquarium main entrance
Date opened May 1999[1]
Location Newport, Kentucky, U.S.
Coordinates 39°05′40″N 84°29′51″W / 39.0943725°N 84.4975877°W / 39.0943725; -84.4975877Coordinates: 39°05′40″N 84°29′51″W / 39.0943725°N 84.4975877°W / 39.0943725; -84.4975877
No. of animals 20,000
No. of species 90+
Total volume of tanks 1,000,000 US gal (3,800,000 L)
Memberships AZA[2]
Major exhibits 12
Owner Herschend Family Entertainment
Website www.newportaquarium.com

The Newport Aquarium is an aquarium located in Newport, Kentucky, United States at Newport on the Levee. The aquarium has 70 exhibits and 14 galleries, including five seamless acrylic tunnels totaling over 200 feet (61 m) in length. The aquarium showcases thousands of animals from around the world in 1,000,000 US gal (3,800,000 L) of water, including the "Scooter" and "Sweet Pea," two of the few shark rays in captivity. In 2009, the Aquarium received a baby shark ray from Taiwan, named Sunshine.

The facility is open to the public 365 days a year. Newport Aquarium is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, a leader in global wildlife conservation.[3]

The Newport Aquarium is part of Herschend Family Entertainment, a for-profit company.

Exhibits

Rain forest includes Oriental small-clawed otter, Burmese pythons, kookaburra, Goldie's lorikeet, kea, rainbow lorikeet, and Swainson's blue mountain lory.

The underwater tunnel

Gator Alley includes Mighty Mike (the largest American alligator outside of Florida), plus varying sized specimens of Orinoco crocodile, American alligator, caiman and gharial.

Amazon includes arapaima, pacu, redtail catfish, silver arowana, black arowana, long-tailed river stingray, and perch.

Shark Central lets visitors pet the many species of sharks including lesser guitarfish, pyjama shark, Port Jackson shark, leopard shark, small-spotted catshark, crested bullhead shark, spotted gully shark (sharptooth houndshark).

Kroger Penguin Palooza includes king penguin, Inca tern, chinstrap penguin, gentoo penguin, macaroni penguin and rockhopper penguin.

Ring of Fire is a gallery which focuses on certain species that visitors requested to come back the most. This gallery features Giant pacific octopus, Japanese spider crab, Moon jellyfish, Longspine snipefish, and Pinecone fish.

Frog Bog includes green tree frog, American bullfrog, African clawed frog, red-eyed tree frog, gray tree frog, cane toad, tomato frog, and other frog and toad species.

Dangerous and Deadly includes Gila monster, red lionfish, pinecone fish, electric eel, Gaboon viper, spotted wobbegong, stonefish, redeye piranha, whitespotted bamboo shark, tentacled snake, Thunder the alligator snapping turtle, White-blotched river stingray and a cottonmouth (water moccasin).

Seahorses: Unbridled Fun includes Six-line wrasse, Splendid garden eel, Spotted garden-eel, Barbour's seahorse, Many-banded pipefish, Trumpetfish, Whitespotted surgeonfish, Opossum pipefish, Longspine snipefish, Big-bellied seahorse, Ribboned sea dragon, Razorfish, Dwarf seahorse, Flame angelfish, Hawaiian reef lobster, and a group of Paddlefish.

Surrounded by Sharks includes bowmouth guitarfish (shark ray), sand tiger shark, sandbar shark, Scalloped Hammerhead shark, whitetip reef shark, blacktip reef shark, nurse shark, zebra shark, southern stingray, Nassau grouper, giant grouper, reticulate whipray also known as the honeycomb stingray, and Denver the loggerhead sea turtle.

Coral Reef includes honeycomb moray, unicorn fish, cownose ray, blue tang, powderblue tang, yellow tang, humphead wrasse and bonnethead.

References

  1. ↑ "The making of an aquarium". enquirer.com. The Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved December 26, 2006.
  2. ↑ "Currently Accredited Zoos and Aquariums". aza.org. AZA. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
  3. ↑ "Newport Aquarium". Retrieved December 26, 2006.
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