AQUARIUM OF THE BAY REVIEW: Aquarium of the Bay is a mid-size aquarium building in San Francisco, California, located on the Northern shore of the peninsular city which faces San Francisco Bay. The aquarium is situated at the entrance to the famous Pier 39 complex of restaurants and shops and attractions, and the California sea lion colony which hauls out onto numerous docks next to the pier. The aquarium focuses almost exclusively on the creatures and habitats of San Francisco Bay and has been open since 1996. Originally it was a for-profit commercial venture, but as of June 2009 it is a non-profit marine nature center accredited by the AZA and affiliated with The Bay Institute which is an advocacy group for protection and education about the bay. According to their website, they host 600,000 visitors a year in their 65,000 square foot 2-story building which contains 700,000 gallons of filtered bay water and over 20,000 animals, the majority of which are housed in two main exhibit tanks which are both viewed from a U-shaped nearly continuous 300 linear feet of acrylic tunnel. The building is a purpose-built modern structure at the foot of the pier, somewhat similar in style to the Monterey Bay Aquarium with its varied angled rooflines and exposed concrete lower walls and columns and vaguely marine industrial attitude, although there are plenty of bright plaster and painted wall treatments that give this structure a more finished look. It is surrounded by walkways on both levels which are all public shore access and feature benches and lookouts for enjoying the views of the waterfront. A few tacky kiosks and tents have been set up in front for additional ticket sales and public outreach and photo ops with huge shark jaws and a shark statue, and these should be removed to restore the tasteful design intent of the facility. There are ticket windows on the ground floor on the outside of the building which are unused, they should be reopened. The only glimpse into the building from the ground floor is a window into the filtration equipment room, but the second floor has several windows which allow views in and out of several exhibit areas and the entrance itself. The entrance lobby is a small room with a ticket sales desk, and is very small. It connects to the small gift shop which is at the exit of the exhibit path. The exhibit path is divided into three main areas. The first is called Discover the Bay, and is on the second floor next to the entrance lobby. Next, visitors ride elevators down to the ground floor to see the area called Under the Bay. Then visitors ride in the same elevators back up to the second floor to see the third area called Touch the Bay, then exit through the gift shop. There is a second gift shop located in an adjacent building on Pier 39 and linked by a bridge to the aquarium building, but visitors don't have to go through both if they are observant, they can descend back down the exterior stairs where they originally entered. The interiors including the entrance lobby are all simple and modern, not especially themed or tacky, but not beautifully finished either. Unfinished ceilings with exposed utilities are the norm, with a reliance on dark lighting to minimize the visual impact. The first area of exhibits, Discover the Bay, is in one room. It features small aquariums and graphics which introduce San Francisco Bay and its habitats. Most of the 7 aquariums are circular or semi-circular columns. These include a tank of schooling anchovy, several kelp and rockface exhibits with rockfish and a wolf eel and a moray eel, a pier and sandy bottom exhibit with mussels and crabs, and a tank called Trash Talk which features human-generated flotsam and garbage which become homes for some creatures. There is also a shelf style tank for sandy bottom fish and silver dollars which the visitor can lean over for a topview. There is also a tank of colorful small tropical fish which claims to highlight why they are not found in the bay, but it really just seems like an aquarist's excuse to have some showy exotics. This tank is the only one that has angular faces, which is a subtle tool for distinguishing that "one of these tanks is not like the others." The Discover the Bay exhibits are all average quality and will not impress the seasoned aquarium fanatic, but the graphics are all well designed, clear, and not dumbed-down too much. The second set of exhibits, Under the Bay, is experienced after going down the elevators. This is the main attraction level. Upon entering, visitors first see an exhibit called Jellies: Go with the Flow that features a circular column of moon jellies and a flat rectangular window of sea nettles. Again, nothing groundbreaking but nicely presented. Then it is on to the 300' acrylic tunnel, the big draw. The first of the two tanks that the tunnel traverses is the near-shore habitat. It is filled with schools of anchovies, mackarel, and the like. It has gobs of sea stars. Rockfish and lingcod lurk on the sandy bottom and some rocky ledges and hide amongst some kelp. Some colorful sheepshead and garibaldi can be seen, and giant sea bass impressively patrol. It is a wonderland in a horizontal presentation, since the depth of the tank is maybe 12 feet but the length is close to 150 feet, much like the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Kelp Forest is a wonderland in a vertical presentation. This is the best exhibit at this facility. After the near-shore habitat, the tunnel is temporarily exited for a nicely presented exhibit called Octopus Grotto, which features several small tanks in a rocky wall for dungeness crabs, shrimp, sculpin, and an isopod. There are octopus graphics on the walls which lead to a small tank for a giant Pacific octopus. This tank is probably the smallest octopus exhibit I have seen, but it has a unique pop-up window dome in it. A live dungeness crab was in the tank, awaiting its fate. Next is the other half of the tunnel, this time a deeper-water habitat which is nearly identical in size to the near-shore habitat. A sandy bottom interrupted with only a few kelp and rocks sets the stage for an endless procession of sharks such as sevengills, leopards, and spiny dogfish. Rays such as bat glide by, although not as impressive as some of the packed-to-the-gills ray touch tanks that have become a dime-a-dozen recently. Huge white sturgeon float around. This is the other great exhibit of this facility. the Under the Bay exhibit area was originally designed with a moving conveyer walkway that occupied one half of the width of the entire tunnel walkway. It even made turns and continued through the non-tunnel section between the two tunnels. Visitors could either ride through it or walk through it, and get on or off at any time. The conveyor is still there, nearly flush with the regular walkway, but it was not operating when I was there, which is a good thing. There is no need for it, and visitors appreciate being able to stand on either side of the tunnel span since there are sights to see on both sides, rather than having one side obscured by a moving stream of bodies. Before entering the elevators to go back up to the third exhibit area, there is a small sea grass exhibit tank with another pop-up window dome like the octopus dome. The third set of exhibits, Touch the Bay, is weak. Its two highlights are a small rocky shallow pool for touching several bat rays and leopard shark, and a rocky tidepool for touching sea stars. The rest of the room is filled with small glass enclosures for turtles, tarantulas, honey bees, banana slugs, skinks, king snakes, and chinchillas, and a central touch station counter. Not all the animals in this section are from the bay or California, and it is blandly presented. It just doesn't impress and its message is confused with some exotics. Then comes the gift shop. The aquarium's highlights are the two tunnel tanks in Under the Bay, and the fact that the interpretive theme is the local habitat. Several exotic species muddy this theme, and the remainder of the exhibits are unimpressive to an increasingly sophisticated aquarium public, so the adult entry price of $15.95 is about three dollars too steep. Add the fact that many people go to the fantastic Monterey Bay Aquarium with nearly the same interpretive regional theme, located a few hours South, and this aquarium loses its edge. But paired with the mostly exotic species habitats of the nearby Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, one could have a satisfying yet costly full day of fish-gazing in the City by the Bay. I will post pictures soon, so check back in the United States gallery under Aquarium of the Bay!
A very nice review, and I for one truly appreciate it when fellow ZooChatters take the time to post updates on various zoos and aquariums. Cheers!
The aquarium has carried out its census and holds around 66'000 individual specimens, as well as a major elasmobranch success for 2009 was the birth of seven Pacific Angel Sharks, Squatina californica. Aquarium of the Bay is the only nature center to successfully breed Pacific Angel Sharks and the only aquarium to consistently exhibit, study and care for the species. Aquarium of the Bay's 2009 Census Reports More than 66,000 Animals
