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Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk
- Location & Contact Information
- Address: 10 Nort h Water Street Norwalk CT USA 06854
- Telephone Number: +1-203-852-0700
- Official Website: [1]
- Overview
Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk (formerly Maritime Center) is located in Norwalk , Connecticut (in the SoNo neighborhood). The Maritime Aquarium has seals, river otters, steely sharks, jellyfish, loggerhead turtles, and hundreds of other animals living in re-creations of their natural Long Island Sound habitats. There are two touch tanks. Crabs, sea stars and other coastal creatures are the focus of the first; smooth stingrays in the other.The aquarium also has an IMAX Theater with a screen six-stories tall and the equivalent of eight-stories wide. It was recently upgraded (Oct. 2007) to show Hollywood features on weekend evenings. Part of the upgrade was installation of a 10,000-watt, digital, proprietary, surround-sound system.The Aquarium features educational programs, year-round study cruises on its 40 ft|m| trawler, Research Vessel Oceanic, special exhibits, and fun 3-D simulator/adventure rides.Current feature exhibit (open July 2008) is the African Underwater Safari. Exotic fish and reptiles of Africa are featured, with interpretive signs linking back to water quality issues in Long Island Sound.In recent years the Maritime Aquarium has emphasized helping visitors understand the ecology of Long Island Sound and its watershed. The Aquarium participates in or directs local scientific research on Long Island Sounds residents, including a counting and tagging program for horseshoe crabs and annual counts of harbor seals. The Maritime Aquarium also helped create a Long Island Sound Biodiversity Database open to the public.In 2006 the Aquarium became a partner in SeafoodWatch, a program that encourages consumers to make responsible seafood choices that have a low impact on the environment and promote sustainable fisheries.The Maritime Aquarium is approximately 140000 sqft|m2 with more than 177,000 gallons of water in its live animal exhibits. On exhibit are more than 2,000 marine animals and reptiles representing in excess of 300 species. There are 93 exhibit tanks ranging in size from 10 to 110,000 gallons. There are two exhibit pools: seals and ray touch. Off-exhibit are another 30-some tanks (varies) and a small pool.There is a display of detailed ship models with 14 in cases, plus charts and interpretive signs. In the ship model area and throughout the Cascade Cafe are signs describing the nautical origins of many popular sayings, for example: bitter end, scuttle butt, cat out of the bag, under the weather, three squares a day, etc.[1]
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