The Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center, formerly known as the Virginia Marine Science Museum, is an aquarium and

marine science Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dyna ...

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

located in

Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...

, just south of Rudee Inlet. The exhibits at the museum are contained in over of fresh and saltwater displays.

History

The aquarium opened on June 14, 1986, as the Virginia Marine Science Museum. The focus of exhibits was on life in the rivers of Virginia,

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...

, and the marine waters just off of Virginia. In 1995, the aquarium expanded, tripling its size. On November 21, 2009, the Virginia Aquarium opened a series of exhibits called Restless Planet. The $25 million renovation designed by Chermayeff & Poole of Boston includes for habitats: Malaysian Peat Swamp, Coastal Sahara Desert, Red Sea, and Indonesia's Flores Island and doubled the number of species displayed by the aquarium. Some of the new animals include

Komodo dragon The Komodo dragon (''Varanus komodoensis''), also known as the Komodo monitor, is a member of the monitor lizard family Varanidae that is endemic to the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang. It is the largest extant ...

s, tomistomas, spotted eagle rays, and cuttlefish.

Exhibits

The two main exhibit buildings of the aquarium are the Bay and Main Building and South Building (opening summer 2021). The two are connected by a one-third mile outdoor

nature trail An educational trail (or sometimes educational path), nature trail or nature walk is a specially developed hiking trail or footpath that runs through the countryside, along which there are marked stations or stops next to points of natural, techn ...

running alongside Owls Creek Salt Marsh. Together the two buildings are home to more than 12,000 animals representing over 700 species.

Main Building

The Main Building houses displays intended to show the journey of water from the rivers of Virginia, through the Chesapeake Bay, and out into the ocean. The Restless Planet part of the displays are intended to show the forces that shaped Virginia. ;Chesapeake Bay Aquarium The Chesapeake Bay Aquarium starts with a touch pool where visitors can touch horseshoe crabs, Forbes' sea stars, and whelk. The rest of the exhibit showcases species that live in the shallow waters around the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel including

hermit crabs Hermit crabs are anomuran decapod crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea that have adapted to occupy empty scavenged mollusc shells to protect their fragile exoskeletons. There are over 800 species of hermit crab, most of which possess an a ...

, spider crabs, and '' Hypsoblennius hentz''. ;Norfolk Canyon Aquarium The Norfolk Canyon aquarium replicates the underwater environment of the Norfolk Canyon, a canyon roughly 70 miles off the coast of Virginia. This exhibit is home to

sandbar shark The sandbar shark (''Carcharhinus plumbeus'') also known as the brown shark or thickskin shark, is a species of requiem shark, and part of the family Carcharhinidae, native to the Atlantic Ocean and the Indo-Pacific. It is distinguishable by it ...

nurse shark The nurse shark (''Ginglymostoma cirratum'') is an elasmobranch fish in the family Ginglymostomatidae. The conservation status of the nurse shark is globally assessed as Vulnerable in the IUCN List of Threatened Species. They are considered t ...

and

sand tiger shark The sand tiger shark (''Carcharias taurus''), gray nurse shark, spotted ragged-tooth shark or blue-nurse sand tiger, is a species of shark that inhabits subtropical and temperate waters worldwide. It inhabits the continental shelf, from sandy sho ...

as well as fish such as

crevalle jack The crevalle jack (''Caranx hippos''), also known as the common jack, black-tailed trevally, couvalli jack, black cavalli, jack crevale, or yellow cavalli is a common species of large marine fish classified within the jack family, Carangidae. The ...

grey triggerfish The grey triggerfish (''Balistes capriscus''), or gray triggerfish, is a species of ray-finned fish in the triggerfish family. The species is native to shallow parts of the western Atlantic from Nova Scotia to Argentina and also the eastern Atlan ...

and

southern stingray The southern stingray (''Hypanus americanus'') is a whiptail stingray found in tropical and subtropical waters of the Western Atlantic Ocean from New Jersey to southern Brazil. It has a flat, diamond-shaped disc, with a mud brown, olive, and gre ...

. ;Chesapeake Light Tower Aquarium The Chesapeake Light Tower Aquarium replicates the underwater environment of up to about off the coast of Virginia, and is home to loggerhead, green sea turtle, and

Kemp's ridley sea turtle Kemp's ridley sea turtle (''Lepidochelys kempii''), also called the Atlantic ridley sea turtle, is the rarest species of sea turtle and is the world's most endangered species of sea turtle. It is one of two living species in the genus '' Lepido ...

along with many fish including

Atlantic spadefish The Atlantic spadefish (''Chaetodipterus faber'') is a species of marine fish belonging to the family Ephippidae. It is the symbol of the North Carolina Aquariums. Taxonomy and etymology The scientific name is derived from the Greek word "c ...

, a large

Atlantic goliath grouper The Atlantic goliath grouper or itajara (''Epinephelus itajara''), formerly known as the jewfish, is a saltwater fish of the grouper family and one of the largest species of bony fish. The species can be found in the west ranging from northeaste ...

, Atlantic tripletail,

cobia The cobia (''Rachycentron canadum'') is a species of carangiform marine fish, the only extant representative of the genus ''Rachycentron'' and the family Rachycentridae. Other common names include black kingfish, black salmon, ling, lemonfis ...

lookdown The lookdown (''Selene vomer'') is a game fish of the family Carangidae. It was first described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus, in the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. Description Although the lookdown is similar to the Atlantic moonfish, it ...

, and permits. ;Restless Planet The new Restless Planet expansion includes five immersive displays (a Malaysian peat swamp, the coastal desert, a replica of the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea exhibit and a recreation of an Indonesian volcanic island), and new hands-on exhibits intended to show the forces that shaped the Virginia landscape into what it is today. Some of the animals in these exhibits include

s, tomistomas, spotted eagle rays,

zebra shark The zebra shark (''Stegostoma tigrinum'') is a species of carpet shark and the sole member of the family Stegostomatidae. It is found throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific, frequenting coral reefs and sandy flats to a depth of . Adult zebra sharks ...

, Egyptian cobra,

hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introductio ...

and cuttlefish.

South Building - Opens Summer 2021

The South Building opens summer 2021 and will feature

North American river otter The North American river otter (''Lontra canadensis''), also known as the northern river otter and river otter, is a semiaquatic mammal that only lives on the North American continent, along its waterways and coasts. An adult North American rive ...

s, a red octopus, moon jellies, and other animals. This new building will give guests behind-the-scenes access to the Vet Center, Stranding Response Program, and Water Quality Lab. The new building will also include a large outdoor play area for kids, with water tables, climbing nets, bubbles, and more. The Research and Conservation branch of the aquarium is responsible for the Stranding Response Program, which responds to sick or injured seals,

dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

s, and

sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhe ...

s from local shores. The Marsh Pavilion will be closing to the public for renovations on January 2, 2019.

Aviary

The Virginia Aquarium Aviary was a half-acre habitat located behind the March Pavilion, and was home to 70 birds of about 30 species including a

great horned owl The great horned owl (''Bubo virginianus''), also known as the tiger owl (originally derived from early naturalists' description as the "winged tiger" or "tiger of the air"), or the hoot owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an extre ...

turkey vultures The turkey vulture (''Cathartes aura'') is the most widespread of the New World vultures. One of three species in the genus ''Cathartes'' of the family Cathartidae, the turkey vulture ranges from southern Canada to the southernmost tip of South ...

great blue herons The great blue heron (''Ardea herodias'') is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North America and Central America, as well as the Caribbean and the Galápagos Isl ...

brown pelicans The brown pelican (''Pelecanus occidentalis'') is a bird of the pelican family, Pelecanidae, one of three species found in the Americas and one of two that feed by diving into water. It is found on the Atlantic Coast from New Jersey to the mou ...

fulvous whistling duck The fulvous whistling duck or fulvous tree duck (''Dendrocygna bicolor'') is a species of whistling duck that breeds across the world's tropical regions in much of Mexico and South America, the West Indies, the southern United States, sub-Sah ...

great egrets The great egret (''Ardea alba''), also known as the common egret, large egret, or (in the Old World) great white egret or great white heron is a large, widely distributed egret. The four subspecies are found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and ...

, and ruddy ducks. Many of the birds had been injured and rehabilitated, and could not be released back into the wild. The aviary was badly damaged by a storm in the winter of 2015; though no birds were killed, most had to be dispersed to other wildlife centers. At the moment there is a crow and osprey on exhibit, with others off exhibit but used for educational programs. There are no current plans to rebuild the aviary.

Notes

External links

Official Virginia Aquarium website

Virginia Aquarium Sensible Seafood Program Article
{{authority control Aquaria in Virginia Museums in Virginia Beach, Virginia Natural history museums in Virginia 1986 establishments in Virginia