Shark & Ray Bay is a brand-new interactive habitat at Aquarium of Niagara featuring sharks and sting rays! The exhibit invites guests to a safe, COVID-19 friendly hands-on experience with marine life. Learn more below.

Shark & Ray Bay is a great, safe, hands-on opportunity for kids (and adults) to learn about marine life

The M&T Bank Shark & Ray Bay exhibit at Aquarium of Niagara invites guests to a safe, COVID-19 friendly, hands-on experience with marine life. The $1.9 million interactive touch pool is prominently featured on the first floor of the aquarium and is included with general admission. Guests of Shark & Ray Bay are greeted by a shallow tropical pool where they can experience the unique textures and movements of sharks, stingrays, and other marine invertebrates. The Shark & Ray Bay exhibit also includes art and graphics highlighting each species’ role in a healthy ocean ecosystem and the importance of conserving essential coastal habitats such as mangroves and lagoons.

About Shark & Ray Bay

The animals you’ll Meet in M&T Bank Shark & Ray Bay include (clockwise from top left) Atlantic Sting Rays, Doctorfish Tangs, Horseshoe Crabs & Dusty Squirrelfish

$1.9 million exhibit
3,500 gallons
3rd new Aquarium of Niagara exhibit in three years
Part of $10 million in capital improvements over that same time period
Features sharks, two species of stingrays, three species of fish, and various marine invertebrates
The M&T Bank Shark & Ray Bay exhibit’s theme is a mangrove forest, a coastal habitat and diverse ecosystem that serves as a nursery for many oceanic species
Protocol is in place to ensure the interactive exhibit is safe to experience despite the COVID-19 pandemic (see more below)
M&T Bank Shark & Ray Bay is included with the purchase of general admission
Due to the anticipated heightened interest surrounding any new exhibit, visitors are strongly encouraged to purchase general admission tickets online ahead of their visit

Safe, Educational Fun for the Whole Family

The Interactive Touch Pool at Shark & Ray Bay

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Aquarium of Niagara has implemented special policies and procedures to ensure the safety of guests who interact with the new Shark & Ray Bay exhibit. To maintain appropriate social distancing, no more than 15 people will be at the touch pool at any given time. Visitors are asked to remain with their parties and experience the touch pool at a safe social distance from other groups. Surfaces around the exhibit will sanitized regularly, and guests are asked to wash their hands both before and after interacting with the exhibit. Furthermore, research has shown that the coronavirus cannot survive in a marine environment like the one found in M&T Bank Shark & Ray Bay.

The sharks, sting rays, and marine invertebrates living in M&T Bank Shark & Ray Bay join the aquarium’s diverse range of more than 120 species, which includes penguins, marine mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

Don’t miss this amazing opportunity to get hands-on with these unique marine species – the only exhibit of it’s kind in Buffalo Niagara.

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