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No Pamphlet or Ticket
September 28th, 2008
National Aquarium Washington DC
The National Aquarium is one of the few places in Washington DC that is not free. Cost is minimal by most standards from 3.00 for a child to 6.00 for military and Seniors, and 7.00 general admission. The Aquarium is small and not the most stupendous thing you ever saw, but it does have some unique things to see, including my personal favorite: the Sea Horses. I had never seen a live seahorse before so it was neat. Other things that caught my eye were an electric eel, piranha (they have feeding so you can witness the action), color changing fish and an octopus. There were small fish here only. A couple small (baby sized) alligators, a couple small turtles and frogs and aquarium (home-sized) fish mainly. I think there was one snake and something called the Chambered Nautilus and something called a hellbender, which I believe was a huge salamander. There was something fascinating in a tank hatching, that you could see the shape, and it was moving inside a "Pod". All these things I'd never seen in aquariums before. The biggest fish were small Leopard sharks. Not the kind you'd expect; maybe a couple feet long. There was a tank of colorful live coral, colorful live plants and sea anemone. But still, the few unique things you don't see in larger aquariums made it worth a look. You don't have to do much walking inside and it's air conditioned. I didn't see handicap access but I am sure somewhere there might be (I'd email to ask). No food or dinks available. A small gift shop and only one small interactive screen for kids to use. Photos in tanks came out blurry because you weren't allowed to use flash. The National Aquarium isn't talked about much and hardly appears in ads or on maps and if you blink you can miss it! It's located on 14th Street, between Connecticut and Pennsylvania Avenues. It's across from the Ronald Regan Building and a block or so from the Washington Monument.
Left to Right: 1) Seahorse hiding 2) Sea Anemone 3) A big fish 4) Seahorse 5) Seahorse
Left to Right: 1) Sign 2) Octopus 3) Sign/Entrance
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