“This little fish is truly one in a million,” said Jenny Richards, senior aquarist at Shedd Aquarium.

With an extreme cold warning in effect and actual air temperatures below zero in Chicago on Friday morning, several of the city's major cultural institutions have announced closures to the public.

Every Thursday, WTTW News newsletter producer Josh Terry highlights his picks for the week’s must-see cultural events.

The Chicago River has proven itself fit for swimming. But what about raising a family? No one’s ever tallied the number of larval fish in the waterway, until now.

63rd Street Beach sees heavy recreational use while also managing to support diverse wildlife.

Officials at Shedd Aquarium say they are guardedly optimistic about the outcome of a groundbreaking surgery on 12-year-old Kimalu, who is now the first beluga whale to recover from general anesthesia.

As part of its commitment to conserve the endangered southern California sea otter, Shedd Aquarium is a partner in a groundbreaking surrogate mom program.

Chicago was once a swamp. In some places, it still is. But will climate change undo wetland restoration efforts?

A group of microscopic sunflower sea star larva arrived at Shedd Aquarium last year and have been bulking up behind the scenes ever since. Now, after growing 16,000%, they’re ready to make their public debut.

The decades-old St. Patrick's Day tradition routinely attracts tens of thousands of revelers to the riverfront, but in recent years it's also attracted criticism from environmentalists.

The donation is one of the largest to the aquarium in recent history, according to Shedd.

Shedd Aquarium’s 6-month-old baby beluga is hitting key development milestones, and now it needs a name.

For only the third time in its nearly 100-year history, Shedd Aquarium is unveiling a new exhibit in its grand rotunda. “Wonder of Water” is now open to the public.

Community volunteers helped Shedd Aquarium researcher Karen Murchie discover an important trigger of sucker fish migration and along the way they've become vital advocates for freshwater animals.

“The idea was to provide this experience of being like a scuba diver — you come in and you’re at the bottom of the lake looking up,” artist David Franklin said. “Then you rise up through the fish into that Grand Hall, which is so fantastic. It had to hold up to that standard.”

The not-so-little one — measuring 5 feet and weighing 105 pounds — arrived Wednesday night, the first beluga born at Shedd since 2020.