Monterey Bay's famed aquarium was included in Google Inc.'s indoor Street View on Wednesday, becoming the first aquatic museum to be added to the search giant's feature.
People can now access 360-degree views of the aquarium, according to The Santa Cruz Sentinel.
Karen Jeffries, a spokeswoman for the Monterey Bay Aquarium, said officials were approached by representatives from Google, which led to a four-hour virtual tour made of photographs presented in May of last year.
"We were thrilled," Jeffries said. "It's good for visitors to plan a visit."
Other historic locations on Street View include the White House, the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower, St. Mark's Square in Venice, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Galapagos Islands and the San Diego Zoo, Monterey County Weekly reported.
The aquarium features almost 200 galleries and living exhibits, and is home to the biggest collection of jellyfish, a two-story exhibit of sea otters, and a million-gallon Open Sea exhibit with sea turtles, tunas and hammerhead sharks. The aquarium also opened a new exhibit called "Tentacles" earlier this year.
Street View's virtual tour of the aquarium covers almost all areas. Jeffries said that special exhibits weren't included in the tour because they change throughout the year. Aquarium leaders didn't want visitors to expect to see them if they were no longer there, The Santa Cruz Sentinel reported.
A diver in the Kelp Forest Exhibit, thousands of sardines in the Open Sea exhibit and shore birds in the Aviary are also shown in the tour.
The photos were taken by a team of about 10 people from the Mountain View, Calif.-based company with a "trekker" backpack-mounted camera and its "trolley" wheeled device.
Susan Cadrecha, a spokeswoman for Google, said searches for "Monterey Bay Aquarium" on Google have grown in recent months by 15 percent. She said the company is looking to expand the project.
"We're always looking to make our maps as useful, accurate and comprehensive as possible," Cadrecha said.
Monterey Bay Aquarium is in its 30th year, and draws close to 2 million visitors every year.
"This was an especially fun project because it's such a beautiful aquarium," Cadrecha said. "We hope this inspires people to go there and visit."
