The New England Aquarium is one of the premier visitor attractions in Boston with over 22,000 members and 1.3 million visitors each year.

Start on the front plaza, where a slice of New England rocky coast and 42,000 gallons of water are home to resident harbor seals. Look for a massive globe, featuring the oceans, continents, and animals that call this blue planet home.

Step inside that New England Aquarium with priority admission, where informative and entertaining live animal presentations happen every day, allowing visitors to see their favorite aquatic animals. Watch seals interact with their trainers. See turtles eat right from the hands of divers, including Myrtle, a 550-pound green sea turtle, who has been living at the Aquarium for more than 40 years.

“Sea” it all: sea turtles, sea stars, sea urchins, sea lions, and sea dragons, not to mention snails, hermit crabs, horseshoe crabs, shorebirds, lobsters, goosefish, octopus, piranhas, anacondas, salmon, and many more.

Like penguins? The New England Aquarium’s penguin exhibit is home to more than 50 of them — African penguins, Northern and Southern rockhopper penguins, even little blue penguins.

Then there are tanks. The largest “tank” on the East Coast features more than 100 animals, including cownose rays, Atlantic Rays, and sharks, and the centerpiece exhibit, a cylindrical 200,000-gallon Giant Ocean Tank featuring turtles, sharks, eels, stingrays, tarpon and many more, including colorful tropical fishes.