The Mississippi Aquarium has announced an opening date of 30 April 2020.

Currently under construction in Gulfport, Mississippi, the US$93m (€85m, £75.7m) project will have a 5.8 acre beachfront campus, will hold more than a million gallons of both salt and fresh water, all of which will be filtered 16 times every day. The aquarium will house alligators, river otters, fish, dolphins, stingrays and birds.

As a celebration of Mississippi's unique marsh and gulf environments, the aquarium is expected to attract half-a-million visitors per year, employing more than 100 full and part-time employees.

Included in the attractions will be a 30ft-long (9.1m) underwater tunnel that surrounds visitors with sea life, and exterior habitats that are 1,600ft (488m) long. Some 80,000sq ft (24,380sq m) of exhibits will be connected by landscaped walkways, with plantings representing all seven physiographic regions of Mississippi.

The aquarium claims there will be more than 50 species of non-toxic plants, and that the landscape will be a natural food source for birds and butterflies.