The Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center, formerly known as the Virginia Marine Science Museum, is an aquarium and marine science museum located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, just south of Rudee Inlet. The exhibits at the museum are contained in over 800,000 US gallons (3,028,000 l) of fresh and saltwater displays. The aquarium opened on June 14, 1986, as the Virginia Marine Science Museum. The focus of exhibits was on life in the rivers of Virginia, Chesapeake Bay, and the marine waters just off of Virginia. In 1996, the aquarium expanded, tripling its size. On November 21, 2009, the Virginia Aquarium opened a 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) series of exhibits called Restless Planet. The $25 million renovation designed by Chermayeff & Poole of Boston includes for habitats: Malaysian Peat Swamp, Coastal Sahara Desert, Red Sea, and Indonesia's Flores Island and doubled the number of species displayed by the aquarium. Some of the new animals include Komodo dragons, tomistomas, spotted eagle rays, and cuttlefish.The two main exhibit buildings of the aquarium are the Bay and Main Building and South Building (opening summer 2021). The two are connected by a one-third mile outdoor nature trail running alongside Owls Creek Salt Marsh. Together the two buildings are home to more than 12,000 animals representing over 700 species.The Main Building houses displays intended to show the journey of water from the rivers of Virginia, through the Chesapeake Bay, and out into the ocean. The Restless Planet part of the displays are intended to show the forces that shaped Virginia.The Chesapeake Bay Aquarium starts with a touch pool where visitors can touch horseshoe crabs, Forbes' sea stars, and whelk. The rest of the exhibit showcases species that live in the shallow waters around the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel including hermit crabs, spider crabs, and Hypsoblennius hentz.
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