The Mississippi Aquarium has announced an opening date of 30 April 2020. Designed by Eley Guild Hardy, it will be one of the largest aquariums in the US.

Currently under construction in Gulfport, Mississippi, the US$93m (€85m, £75.7m) project will sit on a 5.8-acre (23,500sq m, 253,000sq ft) beachfront site. There will be 80,000sq ft (24,380sq m) of exhibits in total, connected by landscaped walkways with plantings representing all seven physiographic regions of Mississippi.

Inside, a 30ft-long (9.1m) underwater tunnel that will surround visitors with sea-life, the centre's exterior exhibitions will stretch for 1,600ft (488m).

The aquarium will hold more than a million gallons of both saltwater and freshwater, all of which will be filtered 16 times every day, and will be home to alligators, river otters, fish, dolphins, stingrays and birds.

A celebration of Mississippi's unique marsh and gulf environments, 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.

The Eley Guild Hardy studio was chosen to design the aquarium in 2015 and, once open, it is expected to attract half a million visitors per year.