The Belle Isle Aquarium is a

public aquarium A public aquarium (plural: ''public aquaria'' or ''public Water Zoo'') is the aquatic counterpart of a zoo, which houses living aquatic animal and plant specimens for public viewing. Most public aquariums feature tanks larger than those kept b ...

located in

Belle Isle Park Belle Isle Park, known simply as Belle Isle (), is a island park in Detroit, Michigan, developed in the late 19th century. It consists of Belle Isle, an island in the Detroit River, as well as several surrounding islets. The U.S.-Canada border ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. Designed by noted architects George D. Mason and Albert Kahn, it opened on August 18, 1904, and was the oldest continually operating public aquarium in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

when it closed on April 3, 2005. The aquarium reopened to the public on August 18, 2012, and is now run entirely by volunteers. The historic building features a single large gallery with an arched ceiling covered in green glass tile to evoke an underwater feeling. The aquarium was operated by the

Detroit Zoological Society The Detroit Zoo is a zoo located in Royal Oak, Michigan, spanning 125 acres and housing more than 2,000 animals and more than 245 different species. It was the first U.S. zoo to feature bar-less habitats, and is regarded to be an international ...

prior to the 2005 closure. It is currently operated by the

Belle Isle Conservancy The Belle Isle Conservancy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization working to restore, preserve, protect and enhance Detroit's Belle Isle. History Four volunteer-based organizations had been largely response for volunteer efforts on Belle Isle. ...

History

Aquarium at Belle Isle Park, Detroit, Michigan (72686)

The Belle Isle Aquarium opened on 18 August 1904. According to the address given at the opening ceremony, when it opened it was the third largest aquarium in the world. When it opened it held a total of of water. The aquarium basement served as a

speakeasy A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an illicit establishment that sells alcoholic beverages, or a retro style bar that replicates aspects of historical speakeasies. Speakeasy bars came into prominence in the United States d ...

during

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

and later held large fish which no longer fit the Belle Isle Zoo's gallery tanks. Closed circuit television allowed remote viewing of these fish. The aquarium was slightly remodeled in the 1950s. Attendance was on a declining trend in the final decade of its first run: 113,000 visitors toured the aquarium in 1995, but only 56,000 in 2004. On 14 January 2005, the city of Detroit announced that the aquarium would be closed to save $530,000 annually, with the staff being reassigned to the Detroit Zoo or the Belle Isle Zoo, and the fish transferred to other aquariums. It was originally scheduled to close on March 1. Although an extension was granted to the Friends of Belle Isle Aquarium to come up with a fund raising plan, the aquarium was closed on April 3, 2005. On August 3, 2005, Detroit citizens voted to reopen the aquarium by an overwhelming margin (88% in favor, 12% opposed). However, the vote was non-binding and the aquarium remained closed. In 2010, supporters of the aquarium were still trying to find donors to help defray the building's operating costs. Although the building was closed between 2005 and 2012,

goldfish The goldfish (''Carassius auratus'') is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It is commonly kept as a pet in indoor aquariums, and is one of the most popular aquarium fish. Goldfish released into the wild have ...

and

koi or more specifically , are colored varieties of the Amur carp ('' Cyprinus rubrofuscus'') that are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor koi ponds or water gardens. Koi is an informal name for the colored variants of ''C. rubrofuscus'' ke ...

from an outside pond were housed in the aquarium during the winter. Each year in February, the aquarium opened for a day for the annual "Shiver on the River," a fund raising event to promote public support of Belle Isle non-profit groups including the Friends of Belle Isle Aquarium. On 14 August 2012, The Belle Isle Conservancy, a non-profit volunteer group established in 2011 from the merger of the Friends of Belle Isle Aquarium and other Belle Isle non-profit groups, announced the re-opening of the aquarium on a limited basis. The aquarium was reopened on 18 August 2012, the 108th anniversary of its opening. Since 15 September 2012 the volunteer-run aquarium has been open on Saturdays from 10:00 am – 3:00 pm.

Animals

When it was open, the aquarium had 60 exhibits with a total tank volume of , and was home to over 1,500 fish of 146 species. The aquarium largely featured

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

species native to the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

region, but also had salt-water species from around the world. Currently the aquarium is operating with a limited collection of fish species, as volunteers are still working to restore the aquarium. The aquarium made news in 2002 when one of its female white-spotted bamboo sharks gave birth to two young despite not having been near a male in six years, in a suspected rare case of

parthenogenesis Parthenogenesis (; from the Greek grc, παρθένος, translit=parthénos, lit=virgin, label=none + grc, γένεσις, translit=génesis, lit=creation, label=none) is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which growth and development ...

Conservation

The Belle Isle Aquarium participated in breeding programs for several endangered species.

The future

Volunteers are working to restore sixty of the aquarium's tanks, some of which have been open since the fall of 2012.

References

External links

Friends of Belle Isle AquariumFriends of Belle IsleHistoric Detroit — Belle Isle Aquarium
{{Authority control Aquaria in Michigan 1904 establishments in Michigan Buildings and structures completed in 1904 Buildings and structures in Detroit Belle Isle Park (Michigan)