Sea Life Sydney Aquarium | |
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33°52′10″S151°12′07″E / 33.8694°S 151.2019°E | |
Date opened | 1988 |
Location | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
No. of animals | 13,000 |
No. of species | 700 |
Volume of largest tank | 2,000,000 litres (440,000 imp gal; 530,000 US gal) |
Annual visitors | Over 1.2 million |
Memberships | ZAA, [1] WAZA [2] |
Major exhibits | Day and Night on the Reef, Dugong Island, Shark Valley, Penguin Expedition, Discovery Rockpool, Sydney Harbour, South Coat Shipwreck |
Website | visitsealife |
SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium (formerly Sydney Aquarium) is a public aquarium in Sydney, Australia. Opened in 1988, it 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.
The aquarium features 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.
The aquarium is located on the eastern (city) side of Darling Harbour to the north of the Pyrmont Bridge. It is a full institutional member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
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The aquarium was designed by Australian architects [ who? ] to resemble a large wave, to complement the underwater theme of an aquarium and the maritime theme of Darling Harbour. It took nearly two years to build, opening in 1988.
In December 1991, the first Seal Sanctuary was opened. A new, upgraded 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 large Great Barrier Reef oceanarium. Over 6,000 animals are housed[ when? ] 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 (108 ft) long and 13 metres (43 ft) wide, with a total area of about 370 square metres (4,000 sq ft) and a water depth of 3.5 metres (11 ft).[ 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 13 ft) and 26 centimetres (10 in) in thickness.
In 2006, Wild Life Sydney opened next to Sydney Aquarium, which is also owned by Merlin Entertainments.
On 20 December 2007 a glass-bottomed boat began operating, giving visitors 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 on the Gold Coast. It was 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.[ when? ] Dugong Island has above-water viewing areas as well as underwater viewing tunnels.
Other animals kept in the oceanarium include a shark ray, shovelnose rays, zebra sharks, eagle rays, and dozens of different species of fish.
In March 2012, Merlin Entertainments announced that they would be spending $10 million refurbishing the aquarium facilities. As part of the process, the aquarium was rebranded as a Sea Life Centre and was relaunched on 24 September 2012. [4] [5]
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 emphasized.
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 (660 lb) and are over 3 metres (9.8 ft) in length.
The SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium is split into the following exhibit areas and highlights:
The SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium has provided facilities and/or assistance to research institutions including the University of Sydney, the University of New South Wales, the La Trobe University, Indiana University, the Australian Museum, the Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service , and the New South Wales Fisheries Research Institute.
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 metal contamination in marine environments and fish tag longevity on rays, endangered seahorse breeding program, consisting of 'seahorse hotels', [6] 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.
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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.
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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 and approximately 1 million people visit each year.
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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).
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The Aquarium of Western Australia (AQWA) is a privately owned aquarium in Hillarys, Western Australia. Located approximately 20 km (12 mi) north-west of Perth City, it is a popular attraction for tourists and locals alike.
Wild Life Sydney Zoo is a wildlife park in the Darling Harbour precinct, on the western edge of the Sydney central business district, 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.
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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.
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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.
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