The Estuarium is a public aquarium found at Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Dauphin Island, Alabama that has different winter and summer hours. The Summer Season is from March 1through August 31 during which time the facility is open from 9am until 6pm Monday through Saturday. On Sunday the aquarium opens at noon and closes at 6pm. The Winter Season is from September 1 to the last day of February. In the winter the facility is open from 9am until 5pm Monday through Saturday and from 1pm until 5pm on Sunday. The facility is closed on major holidays.
The admission rates are seven dollars for adults, six dollars for seniors and four dollars for students with a valid I.D or children aged five to eighteen. There are also group rates available for the facility. The Estuarium has a dress code that requires everyone to wear shoes and a shirt. There are no bikini tops or open drinks allowed. There are a number of exhibits that members of the facility can enjoy during their visit.
The north side of the Estuarium parking lot has a boardwalk through a salt water marsh. There are various panels along the way to assist visitors in the identification of wildlife and grasses commonly found in the area. The adventures had by a grain of sand are shown with Mr. Sand, a cartoon character that takes students through the dynamics and evolution of the barrier sands.
Alabama's largest wetland is the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta that provides much needed habit for animals and plants alike. The Delta is built by soil that is deposited by the Black Warrior, Coosa Tallapoosa, Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers into the shallow areas of the bay. There are two hundred and fifty thousand acres of bottomland hardwoods, cypress-tupelo swamp and marsh in the forty mile long, ten mile wide Delta. The delta acts like a sponge filtering out the impurities from twenty percent of the fresh water in the nation. Gar fish, turtles and the American alligator can all be seen here.
The estuarine system Mobile Bay is part of the exhibits in the Estuarium at Dauphine Island. The drowned river valley is about thirty-one miles long which has a maximum width of twenty-four miles at the southern end cover over four hundred square miles. The bay provides a transition to the Gulf of Mexico's marine environment from the fresh water found in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta. The public aquarium is found on Dauphin Island which is known as a barrier island because of the way it protects the mainland from the wave energy and winds that come with storms. The saltwater tanks hold hermit crabs, clams and shrimp.
The Billy Goat Hole Gallery at the Estuarium is a room filled with interactive activities to keep visitors entertained. The room is filled with activities to involve students in the learning process.
The Estaurium is designed to give people of all ages a better understanding of the natural habits of animals and plant life native to the area. Anyone one wishing to obtain additional information about the facility and the exhibits should contact the facility directly.
