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National Aquarium in Washington, D.C.

 

 
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National Aquarium in Washington, D.C.
 
 
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The National Aquarium in Washington, D.C. is an aquarium
Aquarium

An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. fishkeeping use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants....
 in Washington D.C. It is located in the Herbert C. Hoover Building
Herbert C. Hoover Building

The Herbert C. Hoover Building is the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the United States Department of Commerce.The building is located at 1401 Constitution Avenue, on the City block bounded by Constitution Avenue NW to the south, Pennsylvania Avenue to the north, 15th Street NW to the west, and 14th Street NW to the east....
 (Department of Commerce headquarters
Headquarters

Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are concentrated. The corporate headquarters is the entity at the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities....
), which is bounded by 14th Street NW on the east, 15th Street NW on the west, Pennsylvania Avenue NW on the south, and Constitution Avenue NW
Constitution Avenue

In Washington, D.C., Constitution Avenue is a major east-west street running just north of the United States Capitol in the city's Northwest, Washington, D.C....
 on the north.

National Aquarium was established in 1873 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth , Massachusetts in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States....
 under the auspices of the Federal Fish Commission.






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The National Aquarium in Washington, D.C. is an aquarium
Aquarium

An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. fishkeeping use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants....
 in Washington D.C. It is located in the Herbert C. Hoover Building
Herbert C. Hoover Building

The Herbert C. Hoover Building is the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the United States Department of Commerce.The building is located at 1401 Constitution Avenue, on the City block bounded by Constitution Avenue NW to the south, Pennsylvania Avenue to the north, 15th Street NW to the west, and 14th Street NW to the east....
 (Department of Commerce headquarters
Headquarters

Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are concentrated. The corporate headquarters is the entity at the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities....
), which is bounded by 14th Street NW on the east, 15th Street NW on the west, Pennsylvania Avenue NW on the south, and Constitution Avenue NW
Constitution Avenue

In Washington, D.C., Constitution Avenue is a major east-west street running just north of the United States Capitol in the city's Northwest, Washington, D.C....
 on the north.

History

The National Aquarium was established in 1873 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth , Massachusetts in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States....
 under the auspices of the Federal Fish Commission. It moved to the Washington Monument
Washington Monument

The Washington Monument is a large, tall, sand-colored obelisk near the west end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It is a United States Presidential Memorial constructed to commemorate the first U.S....
 in 1878 and consisted of holding ponds known as "Babcock Lakes." During the 1880s, the aquarium consisted of a hatching
Egg (biology)

In most birds and reptiles, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum. To enable incubation the egg is usually kept within a favourable temperature range as it nourishes and protects the growing embryo....
 station and a small aquarium at Central Station near the site of today's National Air and Space Museum
National Air and Space Museum

The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., United States, and is the most popular of the Smithsonian museums....
.

The Fish Commission was incorporated into the Department of Commerce in 1903 and renamed the Bureau of Fisheries. When the Commerce Department building was completed in 1932, the National Aquarium moved to the lower level of the building. The Bureau of Fisheries merged with the Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy (later the Bureau of Biological Survey) in 1940 to form the Fish and Wildlife Service
United States Fish and Wildlife Service

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is the unit of the U.S. Department of the Interior dedicated to the management and preservation of wildlife....
, an agency of the Department of the Interior
United States Department of the Interior

The United States Department of the Interior , also called the Interior Department, is the United States federal executive departments of the Federal government of the United States responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans in the United States, A...
. The National Aquarium remained based in the Department of Commerce building, where it remains today. It is the longest continuously operating aquarium in the United States.

Relationship with the National Aquarium in Baltimore

The National Aquarium in Baltimore
National Aquarium in Baltimore

The National Aquarium in Baltimore is a public aquarium located at 501 E Pratt St. in the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It was opened in 1981 and was constructed during the urban renewal period of Baltimore....
 is a separate aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore, Maryland

Baltimore is an independent city and the largest city in the U.S. state of Maryland in the United States. Baltimore is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay....
. Founded in 1981, it was originally distinct from (and a rival of) the Washington aquarium. Both used the title "National Aquarium"; the National Aquarium in Washington, D.C. is older, while the National Aquarium in Baltimore is larger and enjoys better funding. Like its Washington counterpart, the National Aquarium in Baltimore is not managed or funded by the federal government, despite the official-sounding names. Neither is part of the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its Financial endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazine....
.

On September 4, 2003, the National Aquarium Society and the Board of Governors for the National Aquarium in Baltimore announced an alliance, in which the National Aquarium in Baltimore would operate the D.C. aquarium. A signing ceremony hosted by Secretary of Commerce
United States Secretary of Commerce

The United States Secretary of Commerce is the head of the United States Department of Commerce concerned with business and industry; the Department states its mission to be "to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce." Until 1913 there was one United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor, uniting this department with...
 Donald Evans
Donald Evans

Donald Louis Evans was the 34th United States Secretary of Commerce. He was appointed by his longtime friend George W. Bush and sworn into office on January 20, 2001....
 was held at the Commerce Department building.

The National Aquarium in Washington, D.C. uses the nationalaquarium.com domain name
Domain name

The term domain name has multiple related meanings:* A hostname that identifies a computer or computers on the Internet. These names appear as a component of a Web site's Uniform Resource Locator, e.g....
.

Collection

The National Aquarium in Washington, D.C. has a collection of over 1,500 specimen
Specimen

In biology, a Laboratory specimen is an individual animal, part of an animal, plant, part of a plant, or microorganism used as a representative to study the properties of the whole population of that species or subspecies....
s and 250 species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
. Animal
Animal

Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the Kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life....
s in exhibits include longsnout seahorse
Longsnout seahorse

The longsnout seahorse or slender seahorse is a species of fish in the Syngnathidae family. It is found in the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, the United States, and Venezuela....
, leopard shark
Leopard shark

The leopard shark, Triakis semifasciata, is a hound shark found in the coastal waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean, along the coast of North America from Oregon to Baja California....
s, longnose gar
Longnose gar

The longnose gar, Lepisosteus osseus, is a primitive ray-finned fish of the Lepisosteidae family . It is also known as the needlenose gar....
, bonytail chub
Bonytail chub

The bonytail chub or bonytail, Gila elegans, is an endangered Cyprinidae freshwater fish native to parts of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada and Utah in the United States....
, Pacific giant octopus
North Pacific Giant Octopus

The North Pacific Giant Octopus is a large cephalopod belonging to the genus Enteroctopus. It can be found in the coastal North Pacific, usually at a depth of around 65 meters ....
, chambered nautilus
Chambered Nautilus

The Chambered Nautilus is the best known species of nautilus. The shell, when cut away as in the photograph in the gallery below, reveals a lining of lustrous nacre, and displays a nearly perfect logarithmic spiral....
, tiger salamander
Tiger Salamander

The Tiger Salamander is a species of Mole Salamander. The proper common name is the Eastern Tiger Salamander, as to differentiate from other closely related species....
, eastern hellbender
Hellbender

The hellbender is a giant salamander, native to North America. which inhabits large, swiftly flowing streams with rocky bottoms. Vernacular names include "snot otter", "devil dog", "grampus" and "Allegheny alligator"....
, American alligator
American Alligator

The American Alligator, Alligator mississippiensis, is one of the two living species of Alligator, a genus within the family Alligatoridae....
, loggerhead sea turtle
Loggerhead Sea Turtle

The Loggerhead Sea Turtle is a sea turtle and the only member of the genus Caretta. The genus name "Caretta" is a latinization of the French language "caret", meaning turtle, tortoise, or sea turtle....
, red lionfish
Red Lionfish

The red lionfish is a venomous coral reef fish from the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Oceans. The red lionfish is also found off the east coast of the United States, and was likely first introduced off the Florida coast in the early to mid-1990s....
, and snakehead
Channidae

Channidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly known as snakeheads, and is native to Africa and Asia. There are two extant genera, Channa in Asia, and Parachanna in Africa, consisting of 30-35 species....
, as well as piranha
Piranha

A piranha or pira?a is a member of a family of omnivorous freshwater fish which live in South American rivers. In Venezuelan rivers they are called caribes....
, eel
Eel

True eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 19 Family s, 110 genera and approximately 600 species. Most eels are predators....
, and Japanese carp
Koi

, or more specifically , are ornamental domesticated varieties of the common carp Cyprinus carpio. They are also sometimes called Japanese carp....
.

Operation

General admission tickets (ages 11-59) cost US$
United States dollar

The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States and was defined by the Coinage Act of 1792 to be between 371 and 416 grains of silver ....
7, senior (over age 60) and military
Military of the United States

The United States Armed Forces are the overall unified armed forces of the United States. The United States military was first formed by the second Second Continental Congress to defend the new nation against the British Empire in the American Revolutionary War....
 personnel tickets cost $6, child (ages 2-10) tickets cost $3, and children under age 2 are admitted free. The aquarium is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with last admissions at 4:30 p.m.; it is closed on Christmas
Christmas

Christmas , also referred to as Christmas Day, is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus. The day marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts Twelve Days of Christmas....
 and Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving may refer to:*Thanksgiving , the holiday on the fourth Thursday in November.*Thanksgiving , the holiday on the second Monday in October....
.

External links