Acuario de Veracruz

The Acuario de Veracruz sits on the Playon de Hornos waterfront a short walk from the malecon and was, at its 1992 opening, the largest aquarium in Latin America. Visitors follow a marked route through tanks organized loosely by habitat, starting with Gulf of Mexico reef species and moving through an open shark tank viewed via an acrylic tunnel and a viewing window, a manatee pool housing West Indian manatees rescued from the region's rivers and lagoons, and smaller tanks of jellyfish, seahorses, and freshwater species from Veracruz's rivers. Feeding times for the sharks and manatees, posted at the entrance, draw the largest crowds around specific tanks and are worth timing a visit around for families. A full walk-through, including the outdoor sections and gift shop, takes about ninety minutes to two hours; younger children often want extra time at the touch pools and manatee viewing area. The facility gets busiest with school groups on weekday mornings during the academic year and with families on weekends and holidays, when Friday-through-Sunday hours extend to 7:30PM; a weekday afternoon visit tends to be calmer. The shark tunnel and the manatee pool windows are the most popular photo spots, particularly during feeding demonstrations.