Front view of the New England Aquarium, Central Wharf, Boston, Massachusetts
The New England Aquarium is a nonprofit organization located in Boston, Massachusetts. The species exhibited include harbor and northern fur seals, California sea lions, African and southern rockhopper penguins, giant Pacific octopuses, weedy seadragons, and thousands of saltwater and freshwater fishes. In addition to the main aquarium building, attractions at Central Wharf include the Simons Theatre and the New England Aquarium Whale Watch. More than million guests visited the aquarium each year prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium conducts long-running research on the North Atlantic right whale, and its Quincy Animal Care Center rescues and rehabilitates hundreds of sea turtles annually. Historically, the aquarium has been active in marine mammal rescue on the New England coast. At one point, the rear of the main building was occupied by a marine animal hospital. The aquarium’s current harbor seals were born to individuals rescued from the wild early in its history, and its California sea lions and northern fur seal were deemed non-releasable after being rescued on the West Coast and Alaska. In 1999, the aquarium opened a new facility for rehabilitating harbor porpoises in Duxbury. However, the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 caused the previously imperiled populations of marine mammals like Atlantic harbor seals to rebound, leading the aquarium to transition away from marine mammal rescue in favor of research, advocacy, in particular for the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, and the rescue, rehabilitation, and release of cold-stunned sea turtles stranded on Cape Cod. As a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), the aquarium participates in the Species Survival Plans for African and southern rockhopper penguins, the wild populations of which are threatened by habitat loss.
Size: 5467px × 2997px
Location: Central Wharf, Boston, Massachusetts
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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