Featured Destination Story

Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery and Aquarium

Cold Spring Harbor, NY

After 99 years as a New York State trout hatchery, the hatchery opened as a non-profit educational center dedicated to educating its visitors about the freshwater ecosystems of New York. It has the largest living collection of New York State freshwater reptiles, fish, and amphibians. Visitors can tour its two aquarium buildings and eight outdoor ponds, feed the hungry trout, and try its “Catch & Keep” fishing opportunities. Special events, such as Animal Passport Program and Hatching Turtle Day offer the public an opportunity to learn more about the creatures that inhabit New York State’s natural environment.

Walter L. Ross II Aquarium Building houses over 30 different species of freshwater fish native to New York State. The fish range from the primitive bowfin to the native Long Island brook trout. In the Turtle Alcove you will find the hatchling turtles.the Robert Koenig Memorial Pond houses brown trout and water lilies.

Trout eggs are protected from hungry predators and sunlight in the Hatch House. The eggs, taken in early November, hatch in late December. The fish remain here for about four months or until they are moved into the rearing pools. The rearing pools are intermediate pools between the troughs in the Hatch House and the large outdoor Trout Ponds. They provide the needed space for young trout to grow. The fish in these pools will move to the larger ponds within the year. The water that feeds these ponds is 52 degrees year-round. Visitors will notice the nets over the ponds that help keep hungry predators such as herons and ospreys from eating the trout.