Newport Aquarium facts for kids
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| Date opened | May 1999 |
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| Location | Newport, Kentucky, USA |
| Coordinates | 39°05′40″N 84°29′51″W / 39.0943725°N 84.4975877°W |
| Memberships | AZA |
| Website | www.newportaquarium.com |
The Newport Aquarium is a fantastic public aquarium located in Newport, Kentucky, United States. It first opened its doors in May 1999. This exciting place lets you explore amazing underwater worlds and discover thousands of animals from all over the globe!
Contents
Exploring World Rivers
In the aquarium's first area, called World Rivers, you'll find nine different displays. These tanks are filled with freshwater fish from five different continents. You can see hundreds of species here!
The exhibits show animals from many unique places:
- The rainforests of Australia
- The wetlands and caves of North America
- The tall grasses of Asia
- The mighty Amazon in South America
- The heart of Africa
All the tanks in the World Rivers section hold a huge amount of water – about 9,000 gallons of freshwater!
Animals of the Rivers
Here are some of the cool fish and other creatures you can discover in the World Rivers section:
- Wenlock River: Look for colorful Banded Rainbow fish and Black Tandan Catfish.
- Licking River: Spot the tiny Rainbow darter and the unique Blue sucker.
- Mississippi River: See the ancient-looking Spotted gar and the shy Spring cavefish.
- Cavefish: Discover special fish like the Blind cavefish, which have adapted to dark caves.
- Mekong River: Find interesting fish like the Bumblebee goby and the Siamese algae eater.
- Rio Negro: This tank is full of amazing fish like the Heckel discus, Cardinal tetra, and Neon tetra.
- Lake Malawi: Meet the colorful Mbuna Cichlid and the Malawi Eyebiter.
- Congo River: See the beautiful Congo Tetra and the Green Rope Fish.
- Lake Tanganyika: Look for the Black-fin cichlid and the interesting Mbu pufferfish.
- Caribbean Cove: Near the end of World Rivers, you'll find the aquarium's first underwater tunnel. This tank is home to cool fish like lookdowns, porkfish, and green moray eels.
Discovering the Shore Gallery
The Shore Gallery is home to over 500 animals in eight different exhibits. These animals all live in the shallow areas right at the edge of the water. The tanks in this gallery hold a total of 6,120 gallons of water.
One of the most exciting parts is a touch pool! Here, visitors can gently touch species that live along the New England shoreline. This rocky, open-topped exhibit holds 1,200 gallons of water. The Surge Zone area shows what it's like in Hawaii where waves crash against rocky shores, creating small tide pools.
Animals of the Shoreline
Here are some of the creatures you can find in the Shore Gallery:
- Salt Marsh: This area shows animals that live in the slightly salty water of Maryland's shores. You might see Northern Diamondback Terrapins and Marsh Fiddler Crabs.
- Tidal River: This exhibit features a river in Venezuela where the water flow is affected by ocean tides. Look for Four-eyed Fish!
- Mangrove Forest: This tank shows a mangrove forest from the Nigerian Coast in Africa. You can spot unique Butterfly Mudskippers here.
- River Delta: This area looks like a river delta from the Ganges River in Bangladesh. You might see Banded Archerfish and Glass Catfish.
- Florida Grass Bed: This exhibit shows the tall, thick grasses found in the Florida Keys. Look for interesting fish like the Scrawled Filefish and Trumpetfish.
- Flooded Crater: This display shows Hanauma Bay, a place created when the ocean broke into a volcanic crater. You can see Lagoon Triggerfish and even a Loggerhead sea turtle here.
- Surge Zone: In this area, you'll find fish that live where waves crash, like Saddle Wrasse and Sailfin Tang.
- Sand Flats: This exhibit shows a sandy area off the Southeastern coast of the U.S., where you can see Silver pomfrets.
- California Kelp Forest: This is the aquarium's second tunnel! It makes you feel like you're swimming through a thick kelp forest near Anacapa Island, California.
Images for kids
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The underwater tunnel
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A shark swimming in its tank
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Another view of the shark tank
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Visitors enjoying the petting station
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Penguins at Newport Aquarium
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Divers swimming with sharks
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A Honeycomb whiptail ray
