Aquarium of the Americas

Aquarium of the Americas

The Aquarium of the Americas seen from the Mississippi River
Date opened	1990
Location	New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Coordinates	29°57′1″N 90°3′47″W / 29.95028°N 90.06306°WCoordinates: 29°57′1″N 90°3′47″W / 29.95028°N 90.06306°W
Number of animals	10,000
Number of species	530
Memberships	AZA[1]
Website	audubonnatureinstitute.org/aquarium

The Audubon Aquarium of the Americas is an aquarium in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.

It is run by the Audubon Institute, which also supervises the Audubon Zoo, Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium and Audubon Park (in a different part of the city). It is located along the banks of the Mississippi River by the edge of the historic French Quarter off Canal Street, at the upper end of Woldenberg Park. It opened in 1990.

Exhibits

As its name implies, the aquarium specializes in aquatic life of the Americas. The exhibits feature regions throughout North and South America. With 10,000 animals representing 530 species, noteworthy exhibits include:

• Caribbean reef exhibit featuring a clear, 30-foot (9 m) long tunnel surrounded by a 132,000 US gallons (500 m³) tank of exemplary sea life such as the tarpon and angelfish;
• Amazon exhibit, encased in a glass cylinder, effectively a humid, climate-controlled greenhouse that is a prominent feature of the riverfront and includes macaws, piranhas, an anaconda, freshwater stingrays, and other specimens from the area basin;
• Mississippi River gallery, featuring catfish, paddlefish, owls and a leucistic white alligator.
• Gulf of Mexico exhibit, featuring a 400,000 US gallons (1,500 m³), 17-foot (5 m) tall tank of sharks, sea turtles, and stingrays from there.

The aquarium is also home to the Entergy Giant Screen Theater, previously the Entergy IMAX theater, and exhibits for sea otters and African penguins

In popular culture

Several scenes of Werner Herzog's 2009 film Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, starring Nicolas Cage, were filmed inside the aquarium. It also features in the tenth episode of the TV series Life After People, in which, without people to feed or clean the tanks of the animals, they would all be dead within one year with the white alligator being the last to die.

The view of the aquarium building from Canal Street after Hurricane Katrina

Katrina damage and aftermath

In 2005, the facilities were affected by Hurricane Katrina. Though the structure survived the initial hurricane and was on high ground above the subsequent flooding of most of the city, electricity outages continued and the backup power generators were unable to fully operate the sophisticated life support systems needed to keep the animals alive. Aquarium staffers were forced to evacuate the facility only to return four days later to discover that most of the 10,000 fish did not survive.^[2][3]

The aquarium reopened on May 26, 2006. Since Hurricane Katrina, more species have been in the Caribbean and jellyfish exhibits, and there has been a large revamp to the Gulf of Mexico tank simulating ocean life below an oil rig.^[4]

Gallery

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  Pufferfish at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas

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  Moray Eel at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas

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  Barred Owl (Strix varia) at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. This bird is injured and would not survive in the wild.

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  Fish tank at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas

References

1. "List of Accredited Zoos and Aquariums". aza.org. AZA. Retrieved May 19, 2012.
2. "Katrina kills most fish in New Orleans aquarium". CNN. September 9, 2005. Archived from the original on January 21, 2012. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
3. "Aquarium animals to be airlifted out of New Orleans". CNN. September 12, 2005. Archived from the original on January 21, 2012. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
4. "Refilling the Aquarium". 2theadvocate.com. 14 May 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-29.

External links

• Media related to Aquarium of the Americas at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website