SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium (formerly Sydney Aquarium) is a public aquarium that features a large variety of Australian aquatic life, displaying more than 700 species comprising more than 13,000 individual fish and other sea and water creatures from most of Australia's water habitats. Opened in 1988, it is regarded as one of Sydney's premier tourist attractions with over 55% of its visitors each year coming from overseas[citation needed].
The aquarium features 14 themed zones including Jurassic Seas, Discovery Rockpool, Shark Walk, and the world's largest Great Barrier Reef display. Along the way, visitors encounter animals unique to each habitat, including one of only four dugongs on display in the world, sharks, stingrays, penguins and tropical fish, among others.
Sawfish spotted in a SEA LIFE Sydney glass tunnel.
The aquarium was designed by Australian architects to resemble a large wave, to complement the underwater theme of an aquarium and the maritime theme of Darling Harbour, and took nearly two years to build. The Great Barrier Reef complex which opened in October 1998 continues this same theme.
In December 1991, the first Seal Sanctuary was opened. Since then, Sydney Aquarium has upgraded the facilities and a new oceanarium to house seals opened in September 2003. The Seal Sanctuary features Australian sea lions, Australian fur seals, subantarctic fur seals, and New Zealand fur seals. In this floating oceanarium, the seals can be seen below the water's surface from underwater viewing tunnels, and from above on an open-air deck. The Seal Sanctuary is incorporated into the Southern Oceans exhibit, which also features little penguins, the Open Ocean Oceanarium, and Sydney Harbour displays.
In October 1998, the Great Barrier Reef complex opened comprising a tropical touch pool, a live coral cave, coral atoll, two circular gateway displays and a massive Great Barrier Reef oceanarium. Over 6,000 animals are housed in the oceanarium which contains 2.6 million litres (572,000 imp gal, 687,000 U.S. gal)[citation needed] of water pumped from Darling Harbour, filtered and heated before it flows into the Oceanarium and adjoining display tanks. The water is kept at a constant temperature of 25°C (77°F). The Oceanarium is 33 metres (108ft) long and 13 metres (43ft) wide, with a total area of about 370 square metres (4,000sqft) and a water depth of 3.5 metres (11ft).[citation needed] The final exhibit is a reef theatre where activity in a coral canyon can be observed through a window 7 by 4 metres (23 by 13ft) and 26 centimetres (10in) in thickness.
On 20 December 2007, the glass-bottomed boat, or Shark Explorer, began operating, giving guests a tour of the Great Barrier Reef tank. A crocodile exhibit was added in 2008.
In 2008 the seal sanctuary was closed, and the seals were sent to Sea World, Gold Coast, Australia. The seal sanctuary was then renovated and reopened as Dugong Island in December 2008, with two dugongs, Wuru and Pig, transferred there from the Gold Coast, also in 2008. Wuru died in 2018.[3] The remaining dugong, Pig, is the only captive dugong in Australia. Dugong Island has above-water viewing areas as well as underwater viewing tunnels.
In March 2012, SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium's owners, Merlin Entertainments, announced that they would be spending $10 million on the refurbishment of the facilities. As part of the process, the aquarium was rebranded as a Sea Life Centre and was relaunched on 24 September 2012.[4][5]
Exhibits
Shark tunnels at SEA LIFE Sydney
The SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium has distinctly Australian themes and exhibits, which take visitors through the continent's waterways and marine ecosystems. Exhibits cover the rivers of Australia, exploring the Southern and Northern River habitats, as well as the oceans of Australia, through the Southern and Northern Ocean habitats. The complex and fragile nature of Australia's very different and unique aquatic environments is emphasised.
Some of the displays are housed in the main exhibit hall and others are housed in floating oceanariums. Dugong Island and Shark Valley comprise two massive oceanariums, amongst the largest in the world, and have underwater tunnels allowing visitors to examine marine life at close quarters. In the Shark Valley Oceanarium, SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium houses a large collection of sharks including Lemon Sharks and Grey Nurse Sharks. Some of the sharks weigh up to 300 kilograms (660lb) and are over 3 metres (9.8ft) in length.
The SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium is split into the following exhibit areas and highlights:
SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium and its conservation charity SEA LIFE Trust has assisted by providing holding facilities for animals used in many research projects carried out by these organisations. In recent years, the aquarium has been involved in the tagging of sea turtles and sharks, collections for research and the holding of invertebrates for research. Other projects include the effects of heavy metalcontamination in marine environments and fish tag longevity on rays, endangered seahorse breeding program, consisting of 'seahorse hotel[6]s', and other local and global conservation projects
The aquarium also shares conservation information to visitors through its program Breed, Rescue, Protect.
The National Aquarium – also known as National Aquarium in Baltimore and formerly known as Baltimore Aquarium – is a non-profit public aquarium located at 501 East Pratt Street on Pier 3 in the Inner Harbor area of downtown Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. Constructed during a period of urban renewal in Baltimore, the aquarium opened on August 8, 1981. The aquarium has an annual attendance of 1.5 million visitors and is the largest tourism attraction in the State of Maryland. The aquarium holds more than 2,200,000 US gallons (8,300,000 L) of water, and has more than 17,000 specimens representing over 750 species. The National Aquarium's mission is to inspire conservation of the world's aquatic treasures. The aquarium's stated vision is to confront pressing issues facing global aquatic habitats through pioneering science, conservation, and educational programming.
Shedd Aquarium is an indoor public aquarium in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Opened on May 30, 1930, the 5 million US gal aquarium was for some time the largest indoor facility in the world. Today it holds about 32,000 animals.
The National Sea Life Centre is an aquarium with over 60 displays of freshwater and marine life in Brindleyplace, Birmingham, England. Its ocean tank has a capacity of 1,000,000 litres (220,000 imp gal) of water and houses giant green sea turtles, blacktip reef sharks and tropical reef fish, with the only fully transparent 360-degree underwater tunnel in the United Kingdom. The building was designed by Sir Norman Foster.
The New England Aquarium is a nonprofit organization located in Boston, Massachusetts. The species exhibited include harbor and northern fur seals, California sea lions, African and southern rockhopper penguins, giant Pacific octopuses, weedy seadragons, and thousands of saltwater and freshwater fishes. In addition to the main aquarium building, attractions at Central Wharf include the Simons Theatre and the New England Aquarium Whale Watch. More than 1.3 million guests visited the aquarium each year prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Aquarium of the Pacific is a public aquarium on a 5-acre (20,000 m2) site on Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach, California, United States. It is situated across the water from the Long Beach Convention Center, Shoreline Village, and the Queen Mary Hotel and Attraction.
The National Marine Aquarium, opened in May 1998, in Britain's Ocean City Plymouth is the largest Aquarium in the UK. It is home to over 4,000 animals and acts as an educational institution, teaching visitors about marine environments. The National Marine Aquarium has also engaged in ocean conservation work.
The Lisbon Oceanarium is an oceanarium in Lisbon, Portugal. It is located in the Parque das Nações, which was the exhibition grounds for the Expo '98. It is one of the largest indoor aquariums in Europe.
Sea Life Sunshine Coast at Mooloolaba, Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia is a marine mammal park, oceanarium and wildlife sanctuary. Sea Life Sunshine Coast is an institutional member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association (ZAA). The attraction is a Sea Life Centre owned by Merlin Entertainments, and is globally referred to as Sea Life Sunshine Coast by the firm. It was formerly known as UnderWater World.
Sea Life at Mall of America is a public aquarium located in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, United States. The 1.3 million-US-gallon aquarium contains thousands of aquatic creatures, including sea turtles, sharks, sawfish, stingrays, jellyfish and seahorses. There are eleven exhibits featured at the aquarium.
Underwater World, also known as Underwater World Singapore Pte Ltd, was an oceanarium located on the offshore Singaporean island of Sentosa. It was opened on 13 May 1991 and closed on 26 June 2016.
Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life Aquarium is a public aquarium opened in 1985 in Auckland, New Zealand. Located at 23 Tamaki Drive, it was the brainchild of New Zealand marine archaeologist and diver Kelly Tarlton (1937–1985).
Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium is a Southern Ocean and Antarctic aquarium in central Melbourne, Australia. It is located on the banks of the Yarra River beside and under the Flinders Street Viaduct and the King Street Bridge. The attraction is a Sea Life Centre owned by Merlin Entertainments.
An oceanarium can be either a marine mammal park, such as Marineland of Canada, or a large-scale aquarium, such as the Lisbon Oceanarium, presenting an ocean habitat with marine animals, especially large ocean dwellers such as sharks.
Wild Life Sydney Zoo is a wildlife park in the Darling Harbour precinct, on the western edge of the Sydney central business district, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Opened in September 2006, the zoo is located adjacent to a leisure and retail precinct that includes the SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium and Madame Tussauds Sydney.
Nordsøen Oceanarium is a public aquarium and museum that opened in 1998 on the shores of the North Sea in Hirtshals, north Jutland, Denmark. Their main tank, which holds 4,500,000 litres (1,200,000 US gal), is the largest in Northern Europe, but the Oceanarium also has several smaller habitat aquariums and an exhibit with seals. Species displayed are native to the oceans around Denmark.
Manly Sea Life Sanctuary was a public aquarium located in Manly, Sydney, Australia. It featured sharks, giant stingrays, sea turtles, little penguins and other marine life. It also allowed guests to take part in Shark Dive Xtreme, where they could swim with grey nurse sharks over three metres long.
Sea World Ancol, also known as Sea World Jakarta or Sea World Indonesia, is a marine aquarium attraction in North Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia. It is part of the Ancol Dreamland complex, and consists of a main tank, a shark tank, and various other tanks, including a turtle exhibit. The main tank is one of the largest aquariums in Southeast Asia. Despite its name, it is completely unaffiliated with the US-based SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment and their chain of theme parks in the United States.
Eilat's Coral World Underwater Observatory is a public aquarium, park and conservation center located in Eilat, Israel. It is the biggest public aquarium in Israel, and it hosts over 800 species. It was founded in 1974 and was the first of its kind. The park and aquarium is located to the south of Eilat's Coral Beach nature reserve.
Sea Life Michigan Aquarium is the state's largest aquarium with over 250 species and 2,000 creatures including sharks, rays, and green sea turtles. Exhibits include freshwater lakes, coral reef, shipwreck, an interactive touch pool and a 180 degree underwater ocean tunnel. Sea Life Michigan is located at Great Lakes Crossing Outlets in Auburn Hills, Michigan, and is owned and operated by Merlin Entertainments.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
