The Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is More Than Just a Fish Tank

Easily Chattanooga’s biggest draw, the Tennessee Aquarium attracts more than 20 million visitors per year and brings in $115 million to the city’s economy. More than just a fish tank, this facility takes visitors on a journey, displaying eclectic animals that dwell above and below sea level. The aquarium is divided into two sections: the original River Journey, opened in 1992 and devoted to local river life, and Ocean Journey, which was added in 2005 to display sealife from more exotic rivers and other ocean habitats.

The River Journey building features a dramatic triangulated glass roof. The gallery’s walls showcase mountain stream fishes that you can find in the nearby Chattanooga River, such as American paddlefish and channel catfish. Visitors also can watch river otters (nearly extinct in the state before rescue programs started in the 1980s) frolic in their natural habitat as well as feisty Arapaima giant catfish, which are among the largest on exhibit in the world.

An IMAX theater shows documentaries about the animals housed at the aquarium. The aquarium’s most famous resident, Miguel Wattson, is a Twittering electric eel, which tweets whenever he emits electricity, and he can be seen in a special habitat surrounded by an underwater tunnel.

Unlike most other public aquariums, the Tennessee Aquarium is almost wholly devoted to freshwater species. River Journey exhibits are designed to guide guests on a journey from the source of the Tennessee River in the Appalachian Cove Forest through the midstream and then downstream into the Mississippi Delta, where the water meets the Gulf of Mexico.

In addition to freshwater displays, the Aquarium has an impressive collection of saltwater animals. Visitors can see bonnethead sharks, Pacific octopus, and macaroni penguins.

The aquarium also has a number of touch tanks. One of the most popular is Stingray Bay, where visitors can reach into a tank to touch stingrays as they glide through the water. There are also touch tanks where you can feel the scales of a sturgeon, an Atlantic grouper, and a tilapia.

The aquarium is home to a variety of lemurs, too. Lemur Forest, which is located in the River Journey building, houses a herd of red-ruffed and ring-tailed lemurs that will roam throughout the exhibit space. The furry creatures are free to explore the rainforest-inspired environment, but experts will be on hand twice daily to feed them and answer questions. You’ll also have the chance to witness the lemurs perform acrobatic feats in their specially designed enclosure.