The Long Island Aquarium and Exhibition Center

The Long Island Aquarium and Exhibition Center -Sharks and Penguins and Butterflies! Oh, My!

The Long Island Aquarium and Exhibition Center is, as the name implies, two great family attractions in one!
First is the full-scale aquarium, themed around the “Lost City of Atlantis” and blending natural science with fanciful legend for an entertaining and educational experience for all ages.
The Long Island Aquarium features, among other things, one of the biggest, live coral reef displays in the western hemisphere. There’s also a 120,000-gallon shark tank that, if you’re feeling gutsy, you can enter … in a shark-proof cage, of course!

If sharks seem a bit much, maybe penguins are more your speed. At the Long Island Aquarium’s Penguin Encounter, you get the unique, 45 minute opportunity to interact with an African penguin and our staff at the Penguin Pavilion. Learn about these wonderful, playful birds and what goes into caring for them.
The aquarium also features year-round sea lion shows, a chance to do some snorkeling with rays, the hands-on experience of touch tanks, and more than 100 exhibits and interactive experiences.
But wait – I said the Long Island Aquarium and Exhibition Center was two great family attractions in one and, though it seems like I’ve just described 7 or more things, I was just talking about the aquarium! Let’s check out attraction number two: The Long Island Exhibition Center
This 5,000 square foot space is presently inhabited by a wide variety of uncommon – and uncommonly beautiful – butterflies from all over the world. These incredible and delicate creatures flutter about the exhibit – kept at a toasty 80 degrees for the butterflies – and may even choose to land on you! Though they only live around two weeks, the display contains around 1,000 of the insects and, if you’re lucky, you may even get to see one emerge from the cocoon it was shipped in for the exhibit. Not to be missed.