The Tennessee Aquarium ranks #6 in USA Today’s 10Best 2025 Readers’ Choice Awards for Best Aquarium.
The nominees in the contest were curated by a panel of subject matter experts and editors, and then the public voted for their favorite aquarium over the span of a month, creating a top 10 list of winners.
Voting closed on May 12 with the announcement of the 10Best on May 21.
"At the Tennessee Aquarium, we are thrilled to make the top 10 and say a deep ‘thank you’ to all who voted," said Media Coordinator Alison Pryor. "Please join us as we celebrate our success in Chattanooga and beyond through guest visits, engagement, education, and conservation work."
Check out the entire list at 10best.usatoday.com/awards/best-aquarium
With Memorial Day already upon us, the Tennessee Aquarium is poised to help guests of all ages “find their joy” through fascinating wildlife experiences, engaging programming and life-like exhibits that celebrate the wonders of the natural world.
In the Penguins’ Rock gallery, nesting season is in full swing for the Aquarium’s flightless waterfowl. During their visit, guests may glimpse paired-up Macaroni and Gentoo penguins attentively tending to their eggs, and fingers and flippers alike are crossed at the potential arrival of chicks later this summer.
Two Gentoo Penguin couples — Carla and Bigfoot and Bug and Big T — are caring for a pair of eggs each while nearby neighbors Flower and Blue have one of their own. Macaroni Penguin, Merlin, is father to the most-recent addition to the colony, Lyda Sue, and he’s once again on egg-watch duty with Shamrock. Penguin eggs aren’t always fertile, but the penguin specialists are hopeful for a baby boom in the coming weeks.
Deeper into a visit to the Ocean Journey building, it’s hard to experience the beauty and expanse of the 618,000-gallon Secret Reef and not be brimming with questions. Fortunate guests may be lucky enough to have their curiosity satisfied during a Diver Chat. Led by knowledgeable Aquarium educators and conducted via specialized audio equipment, attendees to these programs will learn what it takes for humans to survive underwater from a volunteer diver speaking inside the facility’s largest exhibit. Diver Chat times will be posted on-site.
At the end of May, a large sculpture, created by Oregon-based artistic nonprofit Washed Ashore, will awe Aquarium visitors while simultaneously sounding the alarm about the proliferation of plastic waste in the ocean. As with all of Washed Ashore’s creations, Bill the Coho Salmon is made entirely of discarded plastic collected from beaches.
Bill is a temporary guest of the Aquarium, but he joins another Washed Ashore piece, Stella the Seahorse, which is permanently displayed in the Ocean Journey building’s Island Life gallery. Trashy Trout, another colorful plastic art piece that was created by Aquarium staff and volunteers, can be viewed in the River Journey building.
Arriving just in time for summer, a freshwater mussels exhibit has been added to the River Journey building’s Ridges to Rivers gallery featuring several mussel species found in Tennessee’s Duck River. As they take in the beautiful colors (and funny species names) of the mussels, guests will learn about the abundance of these shelled animals in the Volunteer State and the critical role they play in the health of waterways.