I felt near compelled to go to the NY Aquarium since there weren't any threads here about it and--I don't know about you--but I love seeing reviews and the like up here. I have a bunch of photos I'll be uploading the gallery later too. The NY Aquarium is presently undergoing a lot of construction: the Conservation Hall is under work until summer (though it does not affect Glover's Reef at all) and Alien Stingers (toted as one of the few aquariums in the US to permanent display jellyfish) is completely shut down for repairs. Glover's Reef is pretty. Nice corals, clear water and lots of fish. It's a gorgeous entrance exhibit. One walks in and to the right is a giant tank to the ceiling that covers the whole side of the room. Since you can only see two sides of the tank you never really get a feel for how small it may be unless you pay close attention. Vibrant colors abound. At the end, several small tanks for amphibians (I recall the tomato frog mostly). The only complaint there could be is that it's a little small and that there's not enough variety in the tank but come on--it's the entrance. No need to overwhelm, right? It's a shame the rest of the aquarium doesn't stay true to this great introduction. The Sea Cliffs is a great exhibit. Walruses, fur seals, sea otters and black-footed penguins. Rocky areas outside and the ability to view the whole exhibit under ground (each tank individually, of course). Beneath, there are numerous starfish, seahorse, and other fish exhibits. A good amount of signage and a great amount of detail to make the animal exhibits as interesting inside as outside. The only complaint I have with the Sea Cliffs over all is that you can't see the walruses outside, the dive under to see them below; see the fur seals above and then dive under to see them below, etc. You have to see the exhibits all on top--walrus, fur seal, otter, penguins--and then below. In this sense, it bothers me slightly that you cannot view each animal completely in all respects. Of course, this isn't a real complaint just an annoyance. The Walruses are highly active and make for a great exhibit. The fur seals are harder to get much of a view of, as they spend more time hiding in the nooks of their exhibit. The sea otters I've never (in my multiple trips here) been able to see all too much underwater but they have one of the smaller spaces in the sea cliffs. The Black-footed penguins have a HUGE display (especially considering there's a small cluster of them here--probably around 25-30). I've never seen them underwater either but on the cliffs they tend to reserve themselves out of view of the public but are more than happy to come out during feedings. The Sharks exhibit is named poorly. There are sting rays and gorgeous turtles in there than outnumber the sharks. Small, cramped and not nearly exciting enough. The Explore the Shore exhibit is a GREAT exhibit. It has different sections dedicated to different types of animal parts (there's a 'weird' animal mouths area, a 'weird' animal eye area, etc.). For some reason there's a caiman in a SUPER small exhibit with a few turtles. Great exhibit, small but great. The fur seals are also visible in the old beluga tank-which is quite the stupid idea. The space was large for the Belugas....putting (from what I can tell) 3 fur seals in the exhibit makes them look like goldfish. Overall the aquarium is nice but small. It's also really hard to justify spending $13 dollars for the hour of fun that can be had there when going to the Bronx Zoo provides a day of fun for the same price. It's also (for those aware of NY) the farthest point from nearly every other point in NYC. Between the distance and the price I just can't see any real justification for many people to come here. I can go to the Bronx Zoo every single day and not be bored. I was bored by the end of my hour stay at the aquarium.
I really appreciate reading any kind of zoo/aquarium review and so thanks for giving us here at ZooChat an update on an aquarium that often goes unnoticed in North America because all the big guns (Georgia, Monterey Bay, Shedd, etc) steal the thunder. However, I'm shocked that you only spent an hour there.
On Friday afternoons, the aquarium is donation based for the last 1.5 hours that it's open so that had a large part to do with only spending an hour there. But to be honest...even as someone who could spend all day watching a great exhibit...I don't think I'd be able to spend more than 2 hours there. There's no big draw exhibit and with the exception of the Sea Cliffs the other two open exhibits are all VERY small. I was able to go through the aquarium twice and watch the penguin feeding too. Especially with the Sea Cliffs, it's frustrating when you're like "Oh, the walrus is outside now" and then go outside and it's now underwater so it's hard to 'catch' the animals sometimes.
They do, however, have a decent-sized stadium in which they present sea lion shows 2 or 3 times daily. These 20-minute shows, which I attended while there last summer, are rather entertaining -- and could stretch out your visit time a little bit more.
That's true. When I was younger [I don't know if they do it anymore...], there were dolphin shows. And during the summer, there's a 'touch' exhibit that's about as wide as a standard couch where you can touch a horseshoe crab.
No dolphin shows anymore. And you're right, the Touch Tank was pretty small. To the positive, the galleries of different fish seemed to go on for quite a while. Also, the location of this aquarium is one of the most historical of any. It's right next to NY's famous Coney Island beach and roller coaster park. I've talked with someone from the Zoological Society and they are really hoping to seriously upgrade this aquarium in the next half-decade.
Very true--that exhibit seems to go on for a good while but it's only one of two/three real exhibits there. The sharks do not count lol. There's great location (though dangerous at times and far from 'real' NY) and I can't stress enough how great those two exhibits are. It really is a 'should see' for anyone in the area but...it's not an aquarium that keeps on giving. I hope it someday will. There's such good potential to be one of the top aquariums if someone throws the money to build some real exhibits there. Other than the planned shark world that's been mentioned, any specifics on future plans?
No specifics, other than to say that they fully know that the Aquarium is not quite up to the excellence of its partner, the Bronx Zoo.
I think the main problem in the field that just exhibits and animals. The Bronx has more species in one of it's larger buildings than the whole aquarium does. Given I know very little about economics, but I think if someone really put it to revamp the aquarium...it would be easy. I mean, I wish I could transport the penguin aviary at BZ to the Aquarium. That's a GREAT exhibit. I always look at it this way: I got to the Bronx Zoo at least 2-3 times a month. I go to the aquarium every 2-3 years.
