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Melbourne Aquarium |
| Melbourne Aquarium | |
 View of the Aquarium from the Yarra river
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| Date opened | 2000 |
| Location | Central Business District, Melbourne, Australia |
| Coordinates | |
| Number of animals | 10000+ |
| Number of species | 550+ |
| Major exhibits | Creepy Cave, Coral Atoll, Sink or Swim, Octopus display, Oceanarium |
| Website | |
Melbourne Aquarium is a Southern Ocean and Antarctic aquarium in central Melbourne, Australia. It is located on the banks of the Yarra River beside the Flinders Street Viaduct and the King Street Bridge.
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Built between February 1998 and December 1999,1 the building was designed by Peddle Thorp architects to resemble as ship moored to the river and opened in January 2000. The depth of the building however was designed not to be imposing at street level, being set some 20 metres below the surface.2 At its centre is a 'oceanarium in the round' where the spectators become the spectacle to the marine life swimming around them.
After opening the building had a legionnaires disease outbreak, which resulted in 2 deaths and another 60 people being affected after visiting the aquarium between April 11 and 27 2000. A damages action was brought in May 2000, ending in February 2004.3
The Melbourne Aquarium is currently undergoing a significant expansion that will extend it all the way from the Yarra River to Flinders Street, with a new entrance will be built on the corner of Flinders and King Streets. The new expansion will feature will exhibit Antarctic king penguins and gentoo Penguins, as well as many other Antarctic fish, a first for Australia. The exhibits will feature real ice and snow to simulate Antarctic conditions, and will take visitors on an expedition to Antarctica. The penguins are being sourced from Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World in New Zealand. The expansion is expected to be completed in the later half of 2008.
As part of the expansion the popular simulator ride has been closed.
The Aquarium has a one way self guided tour, spread over four levels:
While visiting these features visitors come across horseshoe crabs, scorpions and tarantulas in the 'two creepy caves' and a diverse collection of Australian sea jellies.
While the theme is that of "Southern Oceans" there are a few exceptions including, a floor to ceiling coral atoll, the mangrove exhibit, the billabong exhibit and the rockpool exhibit.
The aquarium is known for its main exhibit, which features huge grey nurse and broadnose sevengill sharks, held in a large fishbowl containing many diverse species of marine life.
Temporary exhibitions also frequently come to the aquarium.
The current exhibition at the aquarium is of various kinds of creepy creatures, including angler fish, the Japanese spider crab, jellyfish, blood sucking leeches, horseshoe crabs, poisonous scorpions and tarantulas.
Melbourne Aquarium formerly had a giant squid exhibit (frozen, not alive). This has been moved to the UnderWaterWorld, Queensland. A quote from their website: "The 7 metre squid is frozen in time in the world’s largest man-made block of ice and is on display as part of the Monsters of the Deep exhibit. The exhibit also features live cuttlefish, bioluminescent fish and octopus hidden in dark, eerie caves and rare footage of a live Humboldt Squid, filmed off the coast of Mexico."citation needed
The aquarium is owned and operated by MFS Living & Leisure Group (a stapled security listed on both the Australian Securities Exchange and New Zealand Stock Exchange).
MFS Living & Leisure Group's main shareholders are ANZ Nominees Limited, National Nominees Limited, HSBC Custody Nominees (Australia) Limited, Grollo International Pty Ltd and MFS Financial Services Limited.
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