Georgia Aquarium - Exhibits

Exhibits

The aquarium's animals are displayed in six different galleries: Georgia Explorer, Tropical Diver, Ocean Voyager, Cold Water Quest, River Scout, and Dolphin Tales. Each corresponds to a specific environment. To the left as one enters the aquarium is the Georgia Explorer exhibit, geared especially towards children. It features a number of touch tanks with rays and sharks as well as exhibits featuring sea turtles and the wildlife of Gray's Reef – a National Marine Sanctuary off the Georgia Coast.

The second exhibit, River Scout, also reflects regional environments. It features an overhead river where visitors can see North American fish from the bottom up. In addition to local specimens, this exhibit displays piranha, electric fish, and other unusual freshwater life.

Next to River Scout is the Dolphin Tales gallery. This is the aquarium's newest addition (opened in April 2011) and houses the indoor dolphin stadium. The aquarium houses 11 bottlenose dolphins, though this number fluctuates from time to time. Currently, there are three dolphin shows per day. The show lasts about 20-30 minutes and includes an informative/educational videos about the dolphins 30 minutes prior to the show. Admission to the AT&T Dolphin Tales show requires purchasing an additional ticket. However, guests can see the dolphins during non-show times free of charge.

The fourth section of the aquarium, Cold Water Quest, features animals from the polar regions of the world and contains most of the mammals in the aquarium's collection. This exhibit includes beluga whales in the aquarium's second largest habitat, Japanese spider crabs, and African black-footed penguins.

The fifth exhibit, entitled Ocean Voyager, includes the vast majority of the aquarium's water and almost 100,000 fish. This exhibit is designed to feature the life of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, and showcases the aquarium's whale sharks, as well as a 100 foot (30 m) underwater tunnel and the world's second largest viewing window.

The sixth exhibit,Tropical Diver, features beautiful Indo-Pacific tropical fish and temperate water invertebrates. The largest habitat in the exhibit is a 164,000-US-gallon (620,000 L) reef featuring about 90 species of fish. The aquarium also cultivates its own live coral, some of which can be seen on this large reef. Other animals in this gallery include sea horses, garden eels, jellyfish, clown fish, shrimp, lobsters, Turkeyfish and many other tropical fishes.

The aquarium also features a "4D" movie "Deepo's Undersea 3D Wondershow", a section with different exhibits of frogs and other attractions, including the Ocean Voyager – Journey With Giants exhibit hall where the Chedd-Angier-Lewis production company, with Electrosonic Inc., has produced the Open Ocean Touchwall, a dynamic, interactive projection for species identification. This is a virtual aquarium where larger than life, fully articulated 3-D renderings of Open Ocean fish swim across six panels assembled to simulate a tank. Guests are invited to reach out and place hands or fingers on the fish. As they do so, fun and informative content bubbles appear to educate the guest about the particular species they have chosen.

Also, in 2009, the "Titanic Aquatic" exhibit opened, which features a walkthrough of what it was like on the ship RMS Titanic. The exhibit was at the aquarium until September 7, 2009. The Georgia Aquarium then hosted the world debut of Planet Shark: Predator or Prey: The Exhibition. The exhibit focused on dispelling myths and sharing facts to help create a better understanding of sharks. It was open through April 2011, and featured shark jaws, teeth and fossils, full scale shark models made from real specimens and more.

Development of the aquarium building and its facilities was managed by Heery International, who served as the Program Manager / Owner's representative for the Georgia Aquarium. The base building was designed by Atlanta-based architecture firm tvsdesign, formerly Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates. In addition, tvsdesign designed the facility's interior and the two retail shops located inside the aquarium. The aquarium galleries were designed by the St. Louis based firm of PGAV.