South Carolina Aquarium, Public aquarium in Downtown Charleston, United States
The South Carolina Aquarium is a 93,000-square-foot building on Charleston Harbor, opened May 19, 2000, with galleries tracing South Carolina from the Mountain Forest to the Coast and Ocean. Its centerpiece, the Great Ocean Tank, holds 385,000 US gallons and is 42 feet deep. More than 5,000 animals live in dozens of exhibits across two stories, including river otters, alligators, bald eagles and sand tiger sharks.
The facility opened its doors in 2000 and established itself as a center for marine education at Charleston Harbor. Since then, it has focused on teaching visitors about local aquatic ecosystems and their diversity.
The galleries follow South Carolina's watershed from the Mountain Forest through the Piedmont and Coastal Plain down to the Coast and Ocean, so a visit traces the state's rivers to the sea. The Saltmarsh Aviary is open-air, and the Sea Turtle Care Center treats the four turtle species native to the state, with the loggerhead as South Carolina's official state reptile.
The building can be visited daily and offers multiple galleries to explore at your own pace. It helps to allow enough time to view the different tanks and exhibits thoroughly.
The facility operates a specialized care center for injured sea turtles equipped with advanced medical equipment. After recovery, these animals are returned to the ocean to resume life in the wild.
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