page_title: Belle Isle Aquarium
section_title: Animals
hierarchical_section_title: Belle Isle Aquarium / Animals
caption_attribution_description: English: Interior of Belle Isle Aquarium, Detroit, Michigan, taken five days before scheduled closing of oldest aquarium building in the U.S.
context_page_description: The Belle Isle Aquarium is a public aquarium located in Belle Isle Park in Detroit, Michigan. Designed by noted architects George D. Mason and Albert Kahn, it opened on August 18, 1904, and was the oldest continually operating public aquarium in North America when it closed on April 3, 2005. The aquarium reopened to the public on August 18, 2012, and is now run entirely by volunteers. The 10,000-square-foot historic building features a single large gallery with an arched ceiling covered in green glass tile to evoke an underwater feeling.
  The aquarium was operated by the Detroit Zoological Society prior to the 2005 closure. It is currently operated by the Belle Isle Conservancy.
context_section_description: When it was open, the aquarium had 60 exhibits with a total tank volume of 32,000 U.S. gallons (120,000 L; 27,000 imp gal), and was home to over 1,500 fish of 146 species. The aquarium largely featured freshwater species native to the Great Lakes region, but also had salt-water species from around the world. Currently the aquarium is operating with a limited collection of fish species, as volunteers are still working to restore the aquarium.
  The aquarium made news in 2002 when one of its female white-spotted bamboo sharks gave birth to two young despite not having been near a male in six years, in a suspected rare case of parthenogenesis.
caption: Interior of the aquarium, with its single green-tile curved ceiling gallery
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