(AP) -- KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Kansas City is getting an aquarium filled with everything from seahorses to sharks.

U.K.-based Merlin Entertainments Group announced Wednesday that it has reached a deal to open the $15-million attraction in part of Crown Center's Halls department store.

Construction will begin in May, and the aquarium is set to open in Spring 2012 near the city's downtown.

Plans call for it to provide visitors a glimpse of underwater life in the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, as well as the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The centerpiece will be a tropical ocean tank with a walk-through underwater tunnel.

The company operates other aquariums in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

The company says in a news release that the Kansas City aquarium won't receive any tax incentives.

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