Overview

• The new aquarium opens to the public on Wednesday, Oct. 8, following a move from City Island that leaders say should ease access and help double annual attendance from roughly 350,000 visitors.
• The $130 million center houses hundreds of relocated animals across more authentic habitats and will feature more than 400 species comprising several thousand individual animals.
• Education is the core mission, with three dedicated STEM teaching labs in biomedical and microbiology, marine and coastal ecology, and ocean engineering and robotics.
• A STEM Workforce Training lab extends pathways for high school, undergraduate and postgraduate learners, complementing free visits for about 70,000 students from Sarasota and Manatee county schools with curriculum-linked programming.
• Signature experiences include a 24-foot-deep, 400,000-gallon Gulf Coast tank with sharks and schooling fish, plus manatees, otters, a Giant Pacific Octopus, Humboldt penguins, touch tanks and pop-up penguin viewing.