Until you take a behind the scenes tour, you just don't realize all that they have there. As I mentioned, we did that at the Georgia Aquarium about 8 months after it opened. They have a full hospital with x-ray and ultrasound machines, operating tables, q-tanks and the like. Obviously, some fish they can take to a table to work on but that's not quite feasible with a whale shark so they have places they can handle the bigger species too.
The kitchen was unreal. Sparkling clean as they have to make sure that all food is safe. The food the fish get probably goes through more inspections than what we eat.
Even to go up to the top side of the large SW tank that the whale sharks are in, you have to walk through some type dip that kills all bacteria on your shoes. You actually get to walk out over the tank and look down from the cross walks which are about 5 feet above the water.
I think the cost was like $50 per person but it was well worth it in my opinion.