The World Aquarium was an interactive animal exhibition, conservation research center, and animal sanctuary located in

Laclede's Landing, St. Louis Laclede's Landing (), colloquially "the Landing", is a small urban historic district in St. Louis, Missouri. It marks the northern part of the original settlement founded by the Frenchman Pierre Laclède, whose landing on the riverside the placenam ...

, Missouri, United States, founded by Leonard Sonnenschein. It closed in mid-2019. Some highlights of the child-centered exhibition are being able to feed and touch many animals. The museum allowed general admission, school tours and behind-the-scenes tours. The aquarium housed a variety of animals such as

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 ...

ray Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (g ...

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked tu ...

parrot Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoid ...

s, marsh turtles,

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

alligator An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...

and

sloth Sloths are a group of Neotropical xenarthran mammals constituting the suborder Folivora, including the extant arboreal tree sloths and extinct terrestrial ground sloths. Noted for their slowness of movement, tree sloths spend most of their li ...

. The displays were located on multiple levels and in different rooms. One room featured large fish displays, and other areas were designed for interactive, immersive experiences for kids and adults of all ages. According to the curator, the mission of World Aquarium was to increase the knowledge of aquatic life and environments, to enable people to conserve the world of water, and to provide leadership for the preservation and sustainable use of aquatic resources globally. The aquarium depended heavily on its volunteers and donations. Some volunteers had been working for five years or more. The aquarium, which had been open since 1993, reopened in a historic building near the Mississippi Riverfront in 2016, after a short hiatus, to allow for a move from its previous location at City Museum. The new location saw success until 2019 in a historic neighborhood of St. Louis, featuring close-by views of the

Gateway Arch The Gateway Arch is a monument in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Clad in stainless steel and built in the form of a weighted catenary arch, it is the world's tallest arch and Missouri's tallest accessible building. Some sources conside ...

. But however, in 2019 it was permanently closed for good.

External links

www.childrensaquarium.org

References

{{St. Louis mci Museums in St. Louis Aquaria in Missouri Downtown St. Louis 1971 establishments in Missouri Tourist attractions in St. Louis Buildings and structures in St. Louis