Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium's new 146,000-square-foot Science and Education Aquarium (SEA) opens to the public today at Nathan Benderson Park.

Years in the making, the $132 million facility includes 1 million gallons of aquatic exhibitions, including  sharks and stingrays, manatees, otters, penguins, a giant octopus, sharks, otters and more. Animals are overseen by state-of-the-art life support systems that provide around-the-clock water quality monitoring, filtration and chemical balancing to mimic natural ocean conditions. Mote also makes all its own saltwater for its tanks.

Visitors will also find three state-of-the-art STEM teaching labs: Biomedical, Microbiology and Immunology; Marine and Coastal Ecology; and Ocean Engineering, Technology, Robotics and Sensory Development, which will offer hands-on, experiential learning for more than 70,000 kindergarten through 12th grade students in Sarasota and Manatee schools.