I used to think The New York Aquarium was nice. Even after I had been to other Aquariums, there was something quaint about a small slice of oceanic life in the middle of Coney Island, mere steps from the Atlantic Ocean, and the famed Cyclone, and Astroland. Well, the bloom is certainly off that rose. As far as the marine and animal life goes, it is a good aquarium. Proximity to the animals is good, and for the most part they seem to be active. There are a lot of feeding demonstrations, and the sea lion show is one of the best I've seen. So it's still a decent aquarium, just not as good as I used to think it was.
The problem is two fold. 1)It's ugly. There's no part of this aquarium that is even remotely appealing, except some of the fish. 2)Except for at feedings there are no keepers around to answer any questions, and the signage, though interesting, doesn't answer simple questions about the actual animals in the actual exhibit that you are actually looking at. I find that disconcerting. A shark tank filled with sharks and giant tortoises, and a school of large fish had many people wondering how the different species could co-exist in one tank (I believe, from past aquarium experience, that sharks only eat when hungry, and they make sure to keep them fed). I wondered why three of the sharks looked dead at the bottom of the tank, having never seen sharks not swimming. Alas, there was no one there to let us know, and no signage to help with these questions. Also, where were the penguins? This is not the first winter here, so by now those who run this establishment know where the penguins are, and why and how long the stay there (in the holes in the rocks of the display), it would have been nice if they had let us know.
Truthfully, this Aquarium can be considered a microcosm of the city of New York. Everything is there, it's just done in a way that makes it difficult to fully enjoy it.
All told I had a great time, but how could I not? I was there with two of my little girls.
2 comments:
not too sure what the bridge had to do with all this.
They would probably have to build a new aquarium but that costs plenty of money. Atlanta built a world class aquarium but they got 200 million as a gift from one of the founders of Home Depot who hails from Atlanta.
Maybe Mike Bloomberg wants to part with some of his money to build a new one.
I agree about the signage. At the zoo there are always animals doing weird things and no one there to explain it!
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