Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration


This state-of-the-art aquarium boasts more than 6000 species of sea creatures, as well as an outdoor viewing area for watching seals and sea lions below the waterline and a penguin pavilion. The aquarium's most famous (and controversial) residents are the three beluga whales, who reside in the Arctic Coast exhibit. Animal-welfare groups claim it is debilitating to keep whales in enclosed containers.