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A Visit To The Daytona Aquarium

    Have you ever wondered what the coral reefs in the ocean look like or what the creatures in tropical forests look like? We had a chance to peak into that world last week on a local field trip. We were more excited than usual, as we had never been to this new attraction.     The destination was the Daytona Aquarium. Officially called the "Daytona Aquarium and Rainforest Experience", is an aquarium and tropical zoo. They are located at 1008 West International Speedway Boulevard Daytona Beach, which is in the old Daytona Mall, and they are open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day of the week.
    Despite being primarily an aquarium the "Rainforest Experience" part of their name is not to be underestimated. Immediately after entering you will walk into a room dedicated to frogs, toads, and lizards. With an impressive menagerie of tropical creatures ranging from gators and several kinds of Komodo Dragons, all the way down to many colorful poison dart frogs and glass frogs. Along with these, they also have an interesting collection of turtles, and tropical fish the acted as a nice transition into the main body of the aquarium.
    As indicated in the name, the primary attraction of The Daytona Aquarium is… the aquarium! Their tanks hold many interesting fish, some of which are native to Florida, some are invasive, and some we luckily don’t have in our waterways.
    One of our favorite native species present at the aquarium is the Florida Gar. Their freshwater section had many other interesting species though, including an invasive Clown featherback which is also known as a "Clown knife-fish", and a couple of Arowanas and Arapaimas.
    In addition to these impressive freshwater fish, there were many tanks for saltwater fish. They had a Giant Pacific Octopus, Pacific Jellyfish, Comb Jellyfish, lots of kinds of grouper, sharks, and anything else you could think of. If you are less into looking and more into touching then fear not as they have a pair of touch tanks. One touch tank was dedicated to the rays of Florida's east coast. It had Cownose Rays, a Guitar Fish, and a  few kinds of skates. The other tank was for invertebrates, and it had urchins, starfish, and shrimp.
    While you are at the aquarium you may want to take a break from walking, so head over to one of their educational shows. While we were there we saw a reptile and amphibian show.  At the show, a zoo worker showed us a Cane Toad, a Dumeril's Boa, and a Russian Tortoise. It was neat to hear about how Cane Toads were introduced to Florida in the 1920s in order to control bug populations in sugar cane fields, how Dumeril's Boa is only found in Madagascar, and how Russian tortoises only live 40 years. All around, the educational experience was great.
    If you like seeing cool creatures, getting to pet turtles and rays, and spending some time seeing animals that you aren’t going to see on your daily walk, then we would recommend taking a trip out to the Daytona Aquarium. It is a good use of time for anyone looking for a fun field-trip, that isn’t that far away. There is a party room where you can eat pizza and a nice gift shop. Just for the record, it’s really nice to be able to see exotic animals without having to take care of them. Remember, never release an exotic pet into the wild. The destruction of native animals and habitats in Florida from exotics released in the wild is devastating. See the Arowanas at the aquarium, don’t make them a part of your fish tank.