Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay — Zoo & Aquarium in Nevada

Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay and its collection

Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay, opened in 2000, is a zoo in Las Vegas, United States.

The 105,000 sq ft building is styled as a sunken ancient temple. It holds the largest aquarium tank on the Strip, at 1.3 million US gallons. Eighty people were employed in 2017, 35 of them aquarists.

History

It was built for $40 million with input from the Vancouver Aquarium and opened on 20 June 2000. The millionth visitor came in May 2001, by which point it had earned $10 million.

Animals and collection

It was the first closed-system aquarium on the continent to display a great hammerhead.

Exhibits

The shipwreck tank, rated the third largest on the continent, holds green sea turtles, Galapagos, blacktip reef and sand tiger sharks, and green sawfish.

Conservation and approach

Staff take part in a cove adoption scheme cleaning up Lake Mead. In May 2006 two male Devils Hole pupfish, together with two females from a refuge at Hoover Dam, were brought in to boost numbers.

What the venue says

• While food and beverages are not permitted inside the aquarium exhibits, a wide array of restaurants, cafes, and bars within the broader Mandalay Bay complex are located just steps away.
• The facility is fully wheelchair accessible with flat pathways and standard accommodations for visitors with disabilities.