DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Not far from the world’s most famous beach, sits a new home for marine life that anyone can visit in Volusia County.

The Daytona Beach Aquarium & Rainforest Adventure Park recently opened in February 2024 for guests to learn about and touch aquatic life.

This is a place where guests are encouraged to touch creatures, no matter how strange looking some appear and how unique others feel.

Touch Tank attendant Ivy Pierce spends her days handling marine life, with the hope that visitors learn something the next time they go to the beach.

“I hope it brings more awareness for starfish and how delicate they truly are, and hopefully if people see them out, they will leave them in the waters and not bring them out,” said Pierce.

The aquarium is home to two separate touch tanks, one home to a variety of starfish and the other one filled with stingrays and bamboo sharks.

One man hoping to educate everyone who visits the facility is owner Cliff Grosvenor, who once worked in a pet store and always had a childhood dream of opening an aquarium.  

“I gave them a better way to interact. Larger touch pools. More where the animals can get away from them if they don’t want to be touched, they don’t have to be touched. I learned a lot from other aquariums as well,” said Grosvenor.

The aquarium, located at 1008 W. International Speedway Blvd., is home to 200 sea creatures.

The 55,000-square-foot building is also home to reptiles that guests have an opportunity to touch as well.

The Daytona Beach Aquarium is currently building an indoor rainforest that will be the future home to exotic creatures, including sloths.

The cost for an adult is $28.95 and children, ages 2 to 12, are $24.95. Tickets can be purchased online or at the door.

The aquarium is open seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information, visit the Daytona Beach Aquarium & Rainforest Adventure Park.