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Roller coasters, fireworks, hot dogs. Eleven million people visit Coney Island each year to enjoy its local treasures. But just off the boardwalk, there are other, less familiar ones. Sea turtles, sharks, and harbor seals. Deep-sea canyons and soaring seamounts. As the New York Aquarium begins a new chapter in its history, we are bringing New Yorkers closer to the ocean wonders in their own backyard.
Construction on the aquarium has begun. We've broken ground on a brand new, 57,000-square-foot building that will house over 100 species of amazing marine life.
As key exhibits and main components take shape, the transformation of the New York Aquarium is nothing short of dramatic.
Sandbar sharks like this one are already making their home in holding pools, where they will be on exhibit until the grand opening of Ocean Wonders: Sharks! in 2018.
As we transform, our capacity to engage new audiences of all ages grows. Visitors and students created drawings to help the New York Aquarium secure the Deep Sea Coral Amendment, protecting 38,000 square miles of ocean habitat.
Thanks to our generous supporters, our dramatic transformation is well underway. The centerpiece, a dazzling new building called Ocean Wonders: Sharks!, will soon become a reality. This new 57,000-square-foot building already has reached its highest point of construction, where visitors will find the best view in all of Coney Island.
The loggerhead is just one of four turtle species that regularly migrate right past the New York Aquarium. © Keith A. Ellenbogen
The New York Bight, an area encompassing more than 16,000 square miles from Montauk to Cape May, has a fascinating underwater geography and some of the world’s most iconic, threatened marine life. Aquarium visitors will come face-to-face with more than 115 species that thrive in this local seascape. © Keith A. Ellenbogen
The Aquarium is tracking the migratory movements of blue sharks in local waters with satellite tags. Exhibits within Ocean Wonders: Sharks! will tell the urgent story of sharks, including the threats that now imperil them and what can be done to save them. © Keith A. Ellenbogen
The wine glass hydroid, shown here off of Beach 8th Street, Far Rockaway, can withstand colder temperatures, allowing this invertebrate to live farther north. © Keith A. Ellenbogen
In our new building, whitetip and blacktip reef sharks, sandbar and sand tiger sharks, Port Jackson sharks, wobblegongs, and nurse sharks, like this one, will inspire visitors to learn more about their fascinating world. © Dreamstime/Kjersti Joergensen
New York waters are home to more than 60 shipwrecks. Visitors will walk through the Shipwreck! exhibit and see how these underwater structures act as aggregators of marine life, from large to small. © Keith A. Ellenbogen
Few New Yorkers are aware that the waters surrounding this city make up one of the world’s most diverse and vibrant marine environments. The New York Aquarium’s Ocean Wonders: Sharks! exhibit will introduce the city to some of its most remarkable residents, inspiring visitors to join us in protecting the local waters that are so crucial to wildlife and humans alike.
Shimmer Wall
Coral Reef Tunnel
Learning Laboratory
Ecology Walk
Discover New York Waters
Canyon's Edge
New York Streetscape
Wrapping the entire exterior of Ocean Wonders: Sharks! will be the shimmer wall, a mesmerizing work of art. Its 30,000 individual tiles use wind and reflective sunlight to create a fluid, glittering surface reminiscent of ocean waves and schools of fish.
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