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Situated beside a living coral reef on the Waikiki shoreline, the Waikiki Aquarium is home to more than 2,500 organisms of 420 species of marine plants and animals. Each year, over 350,000 people visit. The Waikiki Aquarium was designated a Coastal Ecosystem Learning Center of the Coastal America Partnership federal program.
The Waikiki Aquarium was established by the Honolulu Rapid Transit Authority, a forerunner of the present-day O'ahu Transit Services, Inc. It was hoped that the aquarium would entice travellers to ride the trolley all the way to the end of the line at Queen Kapi'olani Park where the Waikiki Aquarium is located.
Considered a state-of-the-art scientific institution at the time of its opening, William Jennings Bryan and Jack London traveled to Honolulu to see the Waikiki Aquarium first hand. Renowned biologist David Starr Jordan proclaimed the Waikiki Aquarium to have the finest collection of fishes in the world.