Sydney
Aquarium is a public aquarium located
in the city of Sydney, New South Wales,
Australia. It is located on the eastern
(city) side of Darling Harbour to the
north of the Pyrmont Bridge. The aquarium
contains a large variety of Australian
aquatic life, displaying more than 650
species comprising more than 6,000 individual
fish and other sea and water creatures
from most of Australia's water habitats.
Its key exhibits are a series of underwater,
see-through, acrylic glass tunnels where
sharks swim above visitors, and recreation
of a Great Barrier Reef coral environment.
The Sydney Aquarium was opened in 1988,
during Australia's bicentenary celebrations,
and is one of the largest aquariums in
the world. It is regarded as one of Sydney's
premier tourist attractions with over
55% of its visitors each year coming from
overseas. A crocodile exhibit is being
planned for 2008.
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.
The 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. The
Seal Sanctuary and Open Ocean exhibits
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 Open Ocean
Oceanarium, Sydney Aquarium houses the
largest collection of sharks in captivity.
Some of the sharks weigh up to 300kg and
are over 3m in length. 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 Fur Seals,
sub-Antarctic 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
fairy penguins, the Open Ocean Oceanarium,
and Sydney Harbour displays.
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