Georgia Aquarium is the biggest aquarium in the world. It was opened on the 23th of November 2005 in Atlanta, State of Georgia, in Pemberton Place. This aquarium is a present for the local residents, created by Bernie Marcus and his wife Billy. Bernie Marcus is a co-owner of the company Home Depot. The cost of such a present is 250 million dollars.
In 6 months the large aquarium has attracted more than 2 million visitors. The aquarium is controlled by the corporation, which in its turn is governed by the board of directors. Georgia Aquarium fulfills different functions: informative, scientific-research and entertaining. It also enables organizing great exhibitions and programs at a quite high level.
This show represents not only a merry pastime and entertainment, but also a promotion for preservation of aquatic environment and biological diversity all over the world.
The aquarium was designed so that all the visitors gain unique impressions and remember this show a whole life long. One of the Georgia Aquarium’s purposes is the education of all people, irrespective of their age and status. The visitors learn to take care of animals and get a lot of interesting information about the life forms.
The capacity of a huge tank is more than 30 million liters. It is populated by 100 thousand marine animals. The form of aquarium resembles a big ship, divided into 60 huge compartments. The largest of them are occupied by 2 whale sharks. They are always in the center of visitors’ attention. This aquarium is even bigger than the Japanese oceanarium on the remote island of Okinawa (which was considered the largest in the world before the appearance of Georgia Aquarium).
Before the erection of aquarium Bernie Marcus told that he wanted to make such a construction that the fishes feel here even more comfortable than in the ocean. As of today, the total number of fishes in the huge aquarium amounts 100 thousand.
The most popular aquarium inhabitants are 2 large whale sharks: Norton and Ralf. Their length amounts 5 m.
Recently, 2 female whale sharks were delivered to the aquarium. They became Norton and Ralf’s “girlfriends”. There are 22.8 litres of ocean water in their compartment. These sharks are the only species represented outside of Asia. The length of female whale sharks amounts 3.3. and 4.2 m. They expect the birth of small sharks within 3 years. After all, their compartment can accommodate 6 sharks of one species.
The area of the whole complex amounts 120 000 sq.km. As planned, the huge aquarium turned into the place of location of the tourist from all over the world.
