Fish photos provided by Chad Engler (DiveTulsa.com)
 

The only public aquarium located between Albuquerque and San Diego is coming to the Valley late this year.

At a time when other companies are scaling back, Wildlife World Zoo is moving forward with the largest capital expansion in its 23-year history.

In addition to a new entrance that will provide 10,000 sq ft of retail space, the actual aquarium will consist of three more exhibit buildings with a total of 33,000 square feet under roof. As many as 400 species of animals will be housed in a unique campus-like setting that features indoor and outdoor exhibits. Each building has a different animal theme: Diversity, Weird & Wonderful, and Predators. The entrance and first two aquarium buildings are nearly complete. The final and largest exhibit building, also well underway, will house a bar and restaurant with a 30-foot diameter shark tank as its focal point.

At completion, the aquarium will exhibit unusual species such as seahorses, stingrays, Giant Pacific Octopus, sharks, and the largest fresh water fish in the world -- Arapaima!

The design features not just fish but aquatic mammals, reptiles, and birds, too. Future aquarium additions already in the planning stages will include sea lions and otters.

At opening, the aquarium will contain approximately 250,000 gallons of water spread over some 60 indoor exhibits. There will also be numerous outdoor exhibits including the zoo's 5th ride attraction, a Log Flume Ride. The flume ride will be 1500 feet long and will soak riders as they drop from a maximum height of 3 stories.

Like its predecessors, the African Safari Train, the Australian Boat, and the idearc media Skyride, the flume ride will be integrated into live animal exhibits by taking visitors through a 20-foot acrylic tunnel tank housing tropical reef fish.