The National Marine Aquarium, located in Britain's Ocean City Plymouth is the largest Aquarium in the UK. It is home to over 4,000 animals and has carried out "groundbreaking" Ocean conservation work, as well as offering a variety of opportunities to learn about the marine environment through ocean education for all ages. The marine aquarium is located in Sutton Harbor, next to the Barbican and fish market. It was opened in May 1998, with charitable aims of research, education and conservation. It is a member of the

British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums The British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) (formerly the Federation of Zoological Gardens of Great Britain and Ireland) is a registered charity and the professional body representing over 100 zoos and aquariums in Britain and ...

(BIAZA).

Exhibits

The Aquarium is divided into four main zones: Plymouth Sound, British Coasts, Atlantic Ocean and Blue Planet.

Plymouth Sound

This zone displays marine life found around Plymouth. It concentrates on the range of habitats found around the city. There are 17 tanks, which are home to approximately 80 species of fish and invertebrates, including local

sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimorp ...

rays Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gra ...

, seahorse and octopus.

Eddystone Reef

The second exhibit is the largest native offering in Britain, housing life-size models of whales and dolphins located around Britain. The large Eddystone tank displays an array of creatures found on the Eddystone reef, 19 km south of Plymouth. Through a huge window, visitors can see conger eels, mullet(fish), pollack,

bream Bream ( ) are species of freshwater and marine fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Acanthopagrus'', ''Argyrops'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', ''Etelis'', '' L ...

, and smooth hound sharks swimming in the open water, flatfish and rays hiding on the seabed, and lobsters and

crabs Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...

hiding in the rocks. File:Jawsome.jpg, Jawsome exhibit opened Summer 2016 File:National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth "Enzo" .jpg, Enzo the resident sand tiger shark. File:National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth Jawsome projector.jpg, New Jawsome exhibit, previously the Abyss. File:LemonShark National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth UK .jpg, Lemon Shark found at the National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth UK File:Lemon sharks from the National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth UK .jpg, Lemon Sharks found at the National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth UK File:National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth Moon JellyFish.jpg, Moon Jellyfish. File:Snorkel, Samson and Cooper from the National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth UK .jpg, Snorkel, Samson and Cooper from the National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth UK

Atlantic Ocean

This zone contains various areas within, including 'Ocean Drifters', 'Ocean Lab', 'Observation Deck', 'Lost at Sea' and 'Ocean Predators'. The 'Ocean Drifters'

jellyfish Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrell ...

exhibit was opened in 2009, and includes moon jellies, Japanese sea nettles, and Upside-down jellyfish, housed in round tanks to prevent damage to their delicate bodies. The other areas take you around the largest tank of the aquarium housing 1,000 Caribbean fish including

nurse shark The nurse shark (''Ginglymostoma cirratum'') is an elasmobranch fish in the family Ginglymostomatidae. The conservation status of the nurse shark is globally assessed as Vulnerable in the IUCN List of Threatened Species. They are considered t ...

lemon shark The lemon shark (''Negaprion brevirostris'') is a species of shark from the family Carcharhinidae and is classified as a Vulnerable species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Lemon sharks can grow to in length. They are ...

, sand tiger shark, zebra shark, sandbar shark, barracuda,

southern stingray The southern stingray (''Hypanus americanus'') is a whiptail stingray found in tropical and subtropical waters of the Western Atlantic Ocean from New Jersey to southern Brazil. It has a flat, diamond-shaped disc, with a mud brown, olive, and gre ...

tarpon Tarpons are fish of the genus ''Megalops''. They are the only members of the family Megalopidae. Of the two species, one (''M. atlanticus'') is native to the Atlantic, and the other (''M. cyprinoides'') to the Indo-Pacific Oceans. Species a ...

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked t ...

. The tank volume is 2.5 million litres. This exhibit was updated at the end of 2009, with the largest ever shipment of live fish into the UK, from

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...

, West Indies. It was updated again in 2015/16 with the addition of

Lemon The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...

and sand-tiger sharks.

The Laboratory

The Laboratory allows you to see what life is like working behind the scenes at the aquarium. Biologists can be seen taking care of the younger generation of species being bred and cared for before entering the main exhibits. Loggerhead Turtle

Blue Planet

This zone includes 'Biozone' and the 'Great Barrier Reef'. Biozone showcases the amazing

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

found in the world's oceans and displays species such as the

longhorn cowfish The longhorn cowfish (''Lactoria cornuta''), also called the horned boxfish, is a species of boxfish from the family Ostraciidae, recognizable by its long horns that protrude from the front of its head, rather like those of a cow or bull. They a ...

, lionfish, Giant Pacific Octopus Enteroctopus dofleini and seahorses. This zone also includes the second largest tank at 700,000 liters, home to over 70 species of fish. It also was the home of the

loggerhead sea turtle The loggerhead sea turtle (''Caretta caretta'') is a species of oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around in carapace length when fully ...

, Snorkel, who was with the aquarium from 1990 to 2016.

Conservation

The National Marine Aquarium is a dedicated charity that drives marine conservation through engagement. They led a project to sink frigate in 2004 to create an artificial reef in Whitsand Bay, Cornwall. It is the lead partner in Just Add H₂O, a schools learning center, which also offers outreach programs based around the National Curriculum teaching 30,000 school children each year. Through National Marine Aquarium grants, smaller charities can further help with driving marine conservation.

References

External links

* *{{Official website, http://www.national-aquarium.co.uk Aquaria in England Buildings and structures in Plymouth, Devon Oceanaria Tourist attractions in Plymouth, Devon Wind power in England Wind power in the United Kingdom