The New York Aquarium is located in 2300 Southern Boulevard
Bronx, New York 10460.
(718) 220-5100, is open 365 days a year. (
Last entry is 45 minutes before closing.) Summer hours and rates are in effect May 24–Sept. 4. Monday–Friday: 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. Weekends & Holidays: 10:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m.
Limited Admission (Aquarium only): Adult: $12.00. Child: $9.00. Children 2 and under: Free. Members: Free.
Free admission on Fridays from 3:00 p.m. until closing.
The New York Aquarium is the largest in the world, both as regards size of building and number and variety of specimens exhibited. It is situated in Battery Park at the foot of Broadway and may be reached by all elevated, surface and subway lines running to South Ferry. The nearest elevated station is Battery Park; the nearest subway station, Bowling Green.
Erected as a fortress by the United States Government in 1807, the outer walls of the building are nine feet thick and contain thirty gun embrasures; the walls of the old ammunition rooms are fifteen feet thick. The fort occupied a mole 300 yards from the mainland, but the intervening space was later filled in. In 1823 it was ceded by Congress to the City of New York and became an amusement hall known as Castle Garden, and later an opera house, where, in 1850, Jenny Lind made her first appearance in America.
From 1855 to 1891, the building was used as an immigration station, and in 1896 it was opened as an aquarium by the Department of Public Parks of New York City. In 1902 its management was transferred to the New York Zoological Society, a private scientific association which has complete control of the institution and is responsible for its status as a museum. The annual maintenance fund of the New York Aquarium is provided by the City of New York. The exhibits are provided by the New York Zoological Society.
The building of the New York Aquarium is circular in form with a diameter of 205 feet. Seven large pools, containing turtles, crocodiles, large fishes and marine mammals, occupy the main floor, and a series of large, well-lighted wall tanks—thirty to forty around the main floor, and fifty to sixty on the gallery above--present to the visitor a comprehensive view of American fishes, including marine, fresh-water, tropical and northern species.
The equipment includes facilities for heating sea water in winter for the tropical fishes; for cooling fresh water in summer for the natives of mountain lakes and rivers; for pumping and filtering brackish water from New York Bay for the large floor pools, and for maintaining a reservoir of pure sea water for the salt-water wall tanks. There is also an air compressor for supplying extra aeration to all tanks when necessary.
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