New York Aquarium
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The New York Aquarium first opened on December 10, 1896, at Castle Garden in Battery Park, making it the oldest continually operating aquarium in the United States. On October 31, 1902, the Aquarium was adopted into the care of what was then the New York Zoological Society. At the time, the Aquarium housed only 150 specimens of wildlife. Over time, its most famous director, the distinguished zoologist Charles Haskins Townsend, enlarged the collections considerably, and the Aquarium attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
In 1941, the Aquarium at Battery Park was closed due to the proposed construction of a bridge from lower Manhattan to Brooklyn. The Aquarium’s inhabitants were temporarily housed at the Bronx Zoo until the new aquarium was built after WWII. On June 6th, 1957, the Aquarium opened its doors at its new location in Coney Island, Brooklyn.
The New York Aquarium currently occupies 14 acres by the sea in Coney Island, and boasts over 350 species of aquatic wildlife. Its mission is to raise public awareness about issues facing the ocean and its inhabitants with special exhibits, public events and research. At the Aquarium’s Osborn Laboratories of Marine Sciences (OLMS), several studies are currently underway investigating such topics as dolphin cognition, satellite tagging of sharks, and coral reefs.
The aquarium is also home to famous (male) couple Roy and Silo, who inspired the children's book, And Tango Makes Three, after zookeepers switched a rock they were trying to hatch with an extra egg from another couple.
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