Adventure Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey

Situated on the Delaware River Waterfront, the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey is a fun place for people of all ages. The interactive and educational exhibits delight crowds every year, and the site is the perfect spot for wedding receptions, corporate events and other important functions. Opened in 1992, the aquarium features 8,000 animals in semi-aquatic, freshwater and marine habitats. The total tank volume of more than 2-million gallons covers nearly 200,000-square feet of space.

Popular exhibits include a state-of-the-art 4-D theater, featuring family friendly films; the Jules Verne Gallery, with fascinating information about deep sea creatures; Gill's Clubhouse, the new attraction aimed at educating children and adults about the anatomy and habits of sharks through interactive games, and Penguin Island, home to African penguins that swim, dive and play in a 17,000-gallon pool.

Irazu Falls, located in the South Building of Adventure Aquarium, is an indoor rainforest with a full 2-story waterfall, pouring 400 gallons of water into a freshwater pool of arawana, pacu, stingray and other Amazon River fish. Tribal music and animal sounds, as well as the cascade of rushing water, add to the ambience and authenticity of the experience. Visitors also can check out the Mayan-inspired Rainforest Rendezvous, inhabited by a plethora of exotic, tropical creatures.

Touch-A-Shark, an interactive exhibit, allows guests to reach into an exotic pool of saltwater and pet a rare mix of the aquatic creatures, including smooth dogfish and types of bamboo sharks, as they swim by. The exhibit is located on the second floor of the aquarium. Another section of the aquarium devoted to sharks - Shark Realm - is a 40-foot glass tunnel visitors can venture through for a one-of-a-kind journey. The tank holds more than 20 species of sharks and 850 animals in 550,000 gallons of saltwater. Guests in the tunnel are surrounded by sandbar sharks, sand tiger sharks and green sawfish. The exhibit captivates audiences as the ferocious nautical giants maneuver above and along all areas of the tunnel. Visitors can experience Swim with the Sharks, and take an even closer look at the animals, under the supervision of an expert shark handler.

The Interactive Inlet takes guests on a trip around the world, highlighting many seldom seen sea creatures. Visitors are encouraged to touch and feel fresh-water stingrays, lobsters, slippery shrimp and moon jellyfish, which are baby jellyfish, introducing them to a unique sensory event.

Caribbean Currents, featuring 15 warm-water exhibits, is filled with hundreds of brightly colored tropical fish, seahorses, pipefish and barracuda. Blue and gold macaws, and double yellow-headed Amazon parrots live in the beach portion of the exhibit. The West African River Experience offers a complete education about the massive, 3,000-pound Nile hippo and Feature Ridge, an enclosure with a variety of birds from around the world, including cattle egrets, abdim storks, violet turacos and more.

Additionally, Creature Feature offers children and people of all ages a fun, interactive time. Next to Irazu Falls, the exhibit has invertebrates from the shores of the Pacific Northwest available for viewing and touching. Several species of sea stars, anemones, crabs, snails and more live and thrive in a recreated marine ecosystem.

The Adventure Aquarium offers fun, exciting, educational and interactive exhibits and habitats for people of all ages and is wheel-chair accessible. Making reservations in advance of visiting the aquarium is recommended. Hours of operation are daily from 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.