Seattle Aquarium
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Seattle Aquarium is a public
aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...
in
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
,
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, United States, located on Pier 59 on the
Elliott Bay Elliott Bay is a part of the Central Basin region of Puget Sound. It is in the U.S. state of Washington, extending southeastward between West Point in the north and Alki Point in the south. Seattle was founded on this body of water in the 1850s ...
waterfront. It opened in 1977 and has been accredited by the
Association of Zoos and Aquariums The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), originally the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums, is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1924 and dedicated to the advancement of zoos and public aquariums in ...
(AZA).


History

Plans for a city aquarium, replacing an existing private aquarium, were approved by voters in a 1968
Forward Thrust The Forward Thrust ballot initiatives were a series of bond propositions put to the voters of King County, Washington in 1968 and 1970, designed by a group called the Forward Thrust Committee. Seven of the twelve propositions in 1968 were success ...
ballot initiative. The
Seattle City Council The Seattle City Council is the legislative body of the city of Seattle, Washington. The Council consists of nine members serving four-year terms, seven of which are elected by electoral districts and two of which are elected in citywide at-lar ...
approved a site near
Golden Gardens Park Golden Gardens Park is a public park in Ballard, a neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The park includes wetlands, beaches, hiking trails, and picnic and playground areas. The park's bathhouse was designated a historic landmark by the City of S ...
in Ballard in April 1971, but reversed its decision months later following public outcry. A site on the north side of Pier 59 was instead chosen the following year, necessitating the demolition of additional piers, and was originally expected to begin construction in 1974 but was delayed by design revisions. The new aquarium was part of a large redevelopment program for the
Alaskan Way Alaskan Way, originally Railroad Avenue, is a street in Seattle, Washington, that runs along the Elliott Bay waterfront from just north of S. Holgate Street in the Industrial District—south of which it becomes East Marginal Way S.— to Broad S ...
promenade, which also included Waterfront Park and viewpoints. Construction began in early 1975 with the driving of piles into the seabed to support the future aquarium structure. The aquarium opened on May 20, 1977, and attracted 1,524 visitors on its first day. It cost $5.4 million to construct and was initially owned and operated by the City of Seattle's Department of Parks and Recreation. The opening ceremonies included the release of salmon fingerlings into Elliott Bay and a three-day festival on the waterfront. Bassetti/Norton/Metler/Rekevics were the architects for the building; the exhibits were designed in consultation with local scientists, including
Pacific Science Center Pacific Science Center is an independent, non-profit science center in Seattle with a mission to ignite curiosity and fuel a passion for discovery, experimentation, and critical thinking. Pacific Science Center serves more than 1 million people e ...
director and later governor
Dixy Lee Ray Dixy Lee Ray (September 3, 1914 – January 2, 1994) was an American politician who served as the 17th governor of Washington from 1977 to 1981. Variously described as idiosyncratic and "ridiculously smart," she was the state's first female gover ...
.The aquarium's first expansion was announced in 1979 and was followed by a new exhibit in 1986. A $25.4 million expansion was rejected by Seattle voters in 1988 after failing to reach a needed supermajority. On July 1, 2010, the nonprofit Seattle Aquarium Society—the official 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization for the aquarium—assumed management of the institution from the city. The aquarium promotes marine conservation and educates over 800,000 visitors each year (including 50,000 students) on the impact of mankind on marine life. It also conducts research in these fields. In 2007, an expansion added a gift store and café to the aquarium, as well as two new exhibits: Window on Washington Waters and Crashing Waves. In 2019, the Aquarium Society announced plans for a major expansion, named the Ocean Pavilion, that is set to open in 2024. The project includes a new waterfront promenade that ties in with redevelopment of
Alaskan Way Alaskan Way, originally Railroad Avenue, is a street in Seattle, Washington, that runs along the Elliott Bay waterfront from just north of S. Holgate Street in the Industrial District—south of which it becomes East Marginal Way S.— to Broad S ...
(which includes an overpass to
Pike Place Market Pike Place Market is a public market in Seattle, Washington, United States. It opened on August 17, 1907, and is one of the oldest continuously operated public farmers' markets in the United States. Overlooking the Elliott Bay waterfront on Pu ...
) as well as tank for sharks and sting rays. The project is expected to cost $160 million with the majority of funds coming from local taxes, private donations, and other sources. The city government initially approved $34 million in funding from a real estate excise tax but also contributed a $20 million loan in 2022 to fill an expected shortfall, stemming in part from an increase from the original $113 million estimate.


Exhibits

*Window on Washington Waters is a tank created as part of the 2007 expansion. It is meant to replicate the coastal waters of Washington state from about , and feature native marine life including
salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...
,
rockfish Rockfish is a common term for several species of fish, referring to their tendency to hide among rocks. The name rockfish is used for many kinds of fish used for food. This common name belongs to several groups that are not closely related, and ca ...
, and
sea anemone Sea anemones are a group of predation, predatory marine invertebrates of the order (biology), order Actiniaria. Because of their colourful appearance, they are named after the ''Anemone'', a terrestrial flowering plant. Sea anemones are classifi ...
s. There are dive shows which take place several times a day. Divers wearing special masks are able to converse with visitors. *The Crashing Waves Exhibit is a wave tank that replicates Washington shores from the intertidal zone to a depth of about . *Life on the Edge was opened in 2002. Two large exhibit pools that include touch zones allow visitors to see the tidepool life of Washington's outer coast and of Seattle's inland sea. *Life of a Drifter includes a high glass "donut" where visitors can be surrounded by moon jellies, a multi-species display featuring the
giant Pacific octopus The giant Pacific octopus (''Enteroctopus dofleini''), also known as the North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the genus ''Enteroctopus''. Its spatial distribution includes the coastal North Pacific, along Mexico ...
, and a touch table where visitors can view some of the area's drifters including juvenile rockfish,
sea stars Starfish or sea stars are star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea (). Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to as brittle stars or basket stars. Starfish ...
, and
plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...
. *Pacific Coral Reef is a man-made coral reef in a tank that contains fish that live in and around reefs. *Ocean Oddities is an exhibit displaying pinecone fish,
cowfish Ostraciidae is a family of squared, bony fish belonging to the order Tetraodontiformes, closely related to the pufferfishes and filefishes. Fish in the family are known variously as boxfishes, cofferfishes, cowfishes and trunkfishes. It contains ...
, flying gurnards, potbellied seahorses, and short dragonfish. *Birds and Shores consists of three separate areas. Northwest Shores is an area which shows birds in a variety of habitats of the coastal Northwest. Alcids has diving birds such as
tufted puffin The tufted puffin (''Fratercula cirrhata''), also known as crested puffin, is a relatively abundant medium-sized pelagic seabird in the auk family (Alcidae) found throughout the North Pacific Ocean. It is one of three species of puffin that make ...
s and
common murre The common murre or common guillemot (''Uria aalge'') is a large auk. It has a circumpolar distribution, occurring in low-Arctic and boreal waters in the North Atlantic and North Pacific. It spends most of its time at sea, only coming to land to ...
s. There is also a Shorebird exhibit. *The Marine Mammals area includes exhibits for
harbor seal The harbor (or harbour) seal (''Phoca vitulina''), also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinniped (walruses, eared se ...
s,
Northern fur seal The northern fur seal (''Callorhinus ursinus'') is an eared seal found along the north Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea, and the Sea of Okhotsk. It is the largest member of the fur seal subfamily (Arctocephalinae) and the only living species in t ...
s,
sea otter The sea otter (''Enhydra lutris'') is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between , making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among the small ...
s, and river otters, as well as the Orca Family Activity Center. The Orca Family Activity Center is meant to educate visitors about
orca The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only Extant taxon, extant species in the genus ''Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black ...
s, particularly those belonging to the Southern Resident Community residing in Puget Sound. *Puget Sound Fish is a three-part exhibit that contains fish from the Puget Sound. Fish included in the tank are grunt sculpins, Pacific spiny lumpsuckers,
midshipman fish A midshipman fish is any species of toadfish belonging to the genus ''Porichthys'' (in family Batrachoididae). Midshipman fish are distinguished by their photophores (organs which attract prey and after which they are named, being said to resembl ...
, canary rockfish,
wolf eel The wolf eel (''Anarrhichthys ocellatus'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Anarhichadidae, the wolf fishes. It is found in the North Pacific Ocean. Despite its common name and resemblance, it is not a true eel. It ...
s, and decorated warbonnets. *The Underwater Dome is an exhibit viewed from a mostly transparent spherical undersea room in a tank. It was built as part of the original construction and opened in 1977. The tank exhibits species that would be found in Puget Sound including
salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...
,
lingcod The lingcod or ling cod (''Ophiodon elongatus''), also known as the buffalo cod or cultus cod, is a fish of the greenling family Hexagrammidae. It is the only extant member of the genus ''Ophiodon. ''A slightly larger, extinct species, '' Ophi ...
,
shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimo ...
s,
sturgeon Sturgeon is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretace ...
,
skate Skate or Skates may refer to: Fish *Skate (fish), several genera of fish belonging to the family Rajidae * Pygmy skates, several genera of fish belonging to the family Gurgesiellidae * Smooth skates or leg skates, several genera of fish belongin ...
s, and
rockfish Rockfish is a common term for several species of fish, referring to their tendency to hide among rocks. The name rockfish is used for many kinds of fish used for food. This common name belongs to several groups that are not closely related, and ca ...
.


In popular culture

A fictionalized Seattle Aquarium is prominently featured in the 2020 action-adventure game ''
The Last of Us Part II ''The Last of Us Part II'' is a 2020 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. Set five years after ''The Last of Us'' (2013), the game focuses on two playable chara ...
''.


Notes


External links

* {{Authority control 1977 establishments in Washington (state) Aquaria in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in Seattle Central Waterfront, Seattle Culture of Seattle Tourist attractions in Seattle Zoos established in 1977