New Jersey State Aquarium
Adventure Aquarium logo
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| Date opened | February 29, 1992 (May 25, 2005 opened as Adventure Aquarium) |
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| Location |
Camden, New Jersey, United States
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| Coordinates | 39°56′42″N 75°07′52″W / 39.945°N 75.131°WCoordinates: 39°56′42″N 75°07′52″W / 39.945°N 75.131°W |
| Floor space | 200,000 sq ft (19,000 m2) (public areas) |
| Volume of largest tank | 760,000 US gal (2,900,000 L) |
| Total volume of tanks | 2 million US gallons (7,600,000 L) |
| Memberships | AZA |
| Major exhibits | 11 |
| Public transit access |
Aquarium City Hall |
| Website | www |
The Adventure Aquarium, formerly the New Jersey State Aquarium, is a for-profit educational entertainment attraction operated in Camden, New Jersey on the Delaware River Camden Waterfront by the Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation. Originally opened in 1992, it re-opened in its current form on May 25, 2005 featuring about 8,000 animals living in varied forms of semi-aquatic, freshwater, and marine habitats. The facility has a total tank volume of over 2 million US gallons (7,600,000 L), and public floor space of 200,000 square feet (19,000 m2).
The aquarium was originally known as the New Jersey State Aquarium at Camden, and was operated by the non-profit New Jersey Academy for Aquatic Sciences, an organization chartered to run the Aquarium and further its mission of "education" and conservation.
The Academy was created in 1989, and oversaw the design and construction of the original attraction jointly with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority—the government-run group that allocates public funding for sports and entertainment attractions, statewide. Inspired by the success that other cities, particularly Baltimore, had experienced with their own marine life centers, the New Jersey Legislature approved the bill that included the Aquarium's construction order in the late 1980s, and Governor of New Jersey Thomas Kean signed it into law.
The original building was designed by the architectural firm The Hillier Group, and became a gleaming centerpiece for a dull and virtually abandoned area. Constructed primarily of cast concrete, accented by large glass and aluminum facades and topped by a large, white fabric dome, the Aquarium was completed by early 1992, with a total cost of about $52 million. It opened on February 29, 1992.
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