Summer Fun Starts Early: Jurassic Seas Opens June 6 at the South Carolina Aquarium

With school letting out and summer vacation just around the corner, families across the Upstate are looking for ways to make memories — and the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston is offering one worth the drive.

Jurassic Seas, a new exhibit transporting guests 70 million years back to the Late Cretaceous Period, opens June 6 and is included with regular Aquarium admission.

The exhibit features life-size skeletal replicas of prehistoric marine animals, fossils, and interactive displays designed to turn every visitor into an amateur paleontologist. A new photo opportunity inside a megalodon jaw and an all-new virtual reality adventure — available for an additional fee — round out the experience.

Jurassic Seas is the first exhibit housed in the new John A. Hill Family Discovery Gallery, a 1,200-square-foot space designed for rotating exhibits the Aquarium plans to refresh approximately every three years.

Among the highlights are two tylosaurus rex replicas — officially classified as a previously unknown species just last week and now nicknamed the “T. rex of the sea” — stretching more than 80 feet through the Aquarium’s Great Hall. The largest specimen inside the new gallery is a 15-foot-long Protostega gigas, a prehistoric ancestor of the sea turtles found along South Carolina’s coast today. After exploring the exhibit, guests can visit the Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Care Center, a working hospital dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and release of injured sea turtles.

Life-size skeletal replicas of additional prehistoric marine animals are positioned throughout the broader Aquarium, extending the prehistoric theme beyond the new gallery.

The South Carolina Aquarium is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with last entry at 3:30 p.m. Membership, which includes unlimited visits, starts at $99. For more information, visit scaquarium.org/jurassicseas or call (843) 577-3474.