Tennessee Aquarium 2625838 225167471 2008-07-12T06:47:53Z Flowanda 2184097 Removed unrelated tourist info and google maps link {{Infobox zoo |zoo_name=Tennessee Aquarium |image=Tennesseeaquarium.JPG |date_opened=[[May 1]], [[1992]] <ref name="tnaqua/at a glance">[http://www.tnaqua.org/Newsroom/AQ_at_a_glance.asp Tennessee Aquarium Newsroom - News Release<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> |location=[[Chattanooga, Tennessee|Chattanooga]], [[Tennessee]], [[United States|USA]] |members=[[Association of Zoos and Aquariums|AZA]] |num_animals=12,000 <ref name="tnaqua/meet animals">http://www.tnaqua.org/Animals/Meet_our_animals.asp retrieved [[October 22]], [[2006]]</ref> |website=http://www.tennis.org/ }} The '''Tennessee Aquarium''', located in [[Chattanooga, Tennessee]], is the second largest (next to the [[Georgia Aquarium]]) freshwater aquarium in the world{{Fact|date=May 2007}}. The Tennessee Aquarium's River Journey and Ocean Journey buildings are home to more than 12,000 animals including fish, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, birds penguins, butterflies and more. The original River Journey facility is organized around the theme of the Story of the River, following the path of a raindrop from high in the Appalachian Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico. Approximately 2/3 of the facility's display follows this theme, with the rest devoted to smaller aquatic exhibits hosting organisms from around the world. The self-guided tour takes visitors through three living forest exhibits that teem with life above and below the water’s surface. Along the way, visitors see thousands of animals like free-flying [[song bird]]s, [[snapping turtle]]s, sandbar and sand tiger [[shark]]s, [[stingray]]s, [[river otter]]s, [[moray eel]]s and colorful reef [[fish]]. The new facility, opened in April 2005, ostensibly follows the theme of an Ocean Journey, though with much less consistency than the original. However this facility does include more hands on displays, such as a large shark tank and ray touch tank, large macaws, a butterfly garden with South American species on constant display, as well as the very large ocean tank itself. Other visitor favorites include the Boneless Beauties gallery, where guests enjoy invertebrates like [[jellyfish]], [[cuttlefish]], giant Pacific [[octopus]]es and [[Japanese spider crab]]s. An even newer 16,000 gallon penguin exhibit, with ten macaroni and ten gentoo penguins. It opened May 3, 2007. ==Gallery== <gallery> Image:PotbellySeahorse_TNAquarium.jpg|Potbelly [[seahorse]] pair link tails at the Tennessee Aquarium. Image:SeaNettleJellyfish_TNAquarium.jpg|[[Sea nettle]] jellyfish at the Tennessee Aquarium. Image:PaperKiteButterfly_TNAquarium.jpg|[[Idea malabarica|Malabar Tree Nymph butterfly]]. </gallery> ==References== <references /> ==External links== * [http://www.tnaqua.org/ Official site] {{zoos}} [[Category:Aquaria in Tennessee]] [[Category:Chattanooga, Tennessee]] [[Category:IMAX venues]] [[Category:Landmarks in Tennessee]] [[Category:Economy of Chattanooga, Tennessee]]