Something Fishy

That's because our destination at the end of July was the New England Aquarium located on the waterfront in Boston, MA, it's one of the city's most popular attractions.

It's less than an hour from Nashua, NH, yet we'd never ben there in our 12 years of living in New England. Last month we visited as many local attractions as possible and the Aquarium was on our bucket list.

Entrance to the New England Aquarium, Boston, MA

Boston has been home to several aquariums since the 1880s, the most recent before this one was the South Boston Aquarium at Marine Park, which closed its doors in the 1950s. After that, Boston officials sought to spearhead a massive urban renewal effort that would replace earlier local aquariums with a world-class educational facility, reconnect a decaying industrial waterfront to the life of the city and also celebrate Boston’s maritime history.. 

Opened in June 1969, the New England Aquarium was built as one of the world's first modern, immersive aquariums and set a global standard for modern aquarium design. It spearheaded the development of Boston's once-neglected waterfront. Designed by the Massachusetts firm CambridgeSeven, old-style small glass boxes were replaced with a massive, four-story central core tank. A circular walkway lets visitors spiral downward while watching marine life up close. The design focused on a darker interior space to focus attention entirely on underwater life. 

Visitors walk a winding ramp inside the Aquarium

While the Aquarium may not seem like the most attractive building from the outside, the interior attractions and educational experiences are what received the majority of focus when it was being built. 

The concrete exterior building with its cavernous interior welcomed over 12,000 visitors on opening day and over 450,000 visitors during its first year. While the Aquarium doesn't provide an exact daily visitor count, it currently averages over 1.3 million annual visitors for an average of 3,500 to 4,000 visitors daily. Of course, these numbers change based on the season, weekends and school vacations. The day we visited, the Aquarium was crowded with summer camp groups and families.

The Aquarium features 70 individual exhibits and is home to nearly 10,000 marine animals across four main levels. Exhibited species include harbor and northern fur seals, California sea lions, African and southern rockhopper penguins, giant Pacific octopuses, loggerhead and green sea turtles, and thousands of saltwater and freshwater fishes. 

Giant Ocean Tank, top view 

The Giant Ocean Tank, a 200,000-gallon cylindrical exhibit with a large Caribbean coral reef inside was built first and the rest of the aquarium was constructed around it. The tank features over 100 varieties of fish including stingrays and eels. In 2013, the tank underwent a massive renovation to upgrade its coral reef habitat and viewing spirals. Its permanent residents include a giant green sea turtle, loggerhead sea turtles, and hundreds of colorful tropical fish, reef-dwelling sharks, stingrays, and moray eels. Open and accessible for viewing at the top, the concrete tank is surrounded by a spiral walkway with 67 windows that allows visitors to see into the exhibit from every angle.

Myrtle, a giant sea turtle, is the star of the Ocean Tank

Myrtle, a large green sea turtle, is not only the star of the Giant Ocean Tank, but one of the aquarium’s largest residents at four and a half feet long and over 500 pounds. She took up residence in 1970 as a donation after the Provincetown Marine Aquarium closed. Myrtle is estimated to be 95 years old which puts her beyond the upper boundaries of the species’ longevity. Myrtle draws a crowd at her twice daily feedings of vegetables like romaine lettuce, Brussels sprouts and cucumbers, along with some fish and squid. 

The Indo-Reef Coral Exhibit is very colorful

The most colorful exhibit is the Indo-Pacific Coral Reef exhibit in the Tropical Gallery. It highlights vibrant warm-water marine ecosystems featuring colorful fish like tomato clownfish, longnose butterflyfish, and yellow garden eel. The floor-to-ceiling exhibit accentuates the biological richness of a coral reef, which can support thousands of fish species, sea turtles, sharks. Unfortunately, coral reefs are disappearing worldwide due to climate change and other factors.

Shark and Ray Touch Tank had many visitors

In 2011, the 25,000-gallon Shark and Ray Touch Tank became a permanent exhibit in the Aquarium's West Wing. Here, visitors can interact with multiple species of stingray and shark, including leopard whip rays and brown-banded bamboo sharks, in a naturalistic habitat. Both children and adults crowded around on the day of our visit, which is most likely a daily occurrence.

Sea jellies or jellyfish are beautiful

One of my favorite displays was the sea jellies, which aren't technically fish, and more commonly known as jellyfish. These are ancient marine animals consist of 95% water. They have no brain, heart, bones or eyes, and belong to the phylum Cnidaria. Sea jellies drift in every ocean and use pulsing bells and stinging tentacles to catch food. They group together in swarms called smacks. Their average lifespan is about a year.

Cnidaria is a major phylum of over 11,000 species of mostly aquatic, marine animals characterized by radial symmetry, a gelatinous body, and specialized stinging cells called cnidocytes to capture prey. Examples include jellyfish, corals, sea anemones, and hydras.

Electric eel

The electric eel (Electrophorus) is a South American freshwater fish known for generating powerful electric shocks of over 800 volts. It uses this electricity to hunt, navigate, and defend itself.

African penguins entertained visitors

The Aquarium is home to 50 African penguins and southern rockhopper penguins. Ironic as it sounds, the African Penguin lives in Africa. It is the only penguin species that breeds on the African continent. They can be viewed on several artificial rock islands and can be seen from the spiral walkway around the Giant Ocean Tank. Each penguin has a unique bracelet on one of its wings to identify them; females on their right wing, males on their left.

Napping sea lion

The New England Aquarium is open seven days a week year-round with some holiday closures. Our visit was at a reduced cost thanks to museum discounts funded by the Friends group of the Nashua Public Library of which we are supporters.