The Blue Planet Aquarium is a marine and freshwater aquarium located by the Cheshire Oaks retail and leisure complex in

Ellesmere Port Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, south of Birkenhead, southwest of Runcorn and south of ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, England. When opened by the

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

in July 1998, it was the largest aquarium in the UK, and is still the largest in

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

. The £12 million building was designed by Manchester-based Buttress Fuller Alsop architects to resemble the shape of a crashing wave. It was built by Cheshire-based developer Deep Sea Leisure (now owned by Aspro Ocio Group), who also built

Deep Sea World Deep Sea World is an aquarium located in the village of North Queensferry, in Fife, Scotland. It is host to a collection of large sand tiger sharks, also known as ragged toothed sharks or grey nurse sharks, and various other species of shark. Hi ...

North Queensferry North Queensferry is a village in Fife, Scotland, situated on the Firth of Forth where the Forth Bridge, the Forth Road Bridge, and the Queensferry Crossing all meet the Fife coast, some from the centre of Edinburgh. It is the southernmost sett ...

, Scotland. Its stated aim is to "enlighten, increase knowledge and raise interest in the marine environment using an interactive, entertaining and sustainable approach."

Description

The interior houses tanks, pools and submerged tunnels designed to take the visitor through different habitats of the marine environment. The main aquarium tank holds and features a underwater

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

. Themed areas include Tropical Rivers, Lakes and Ponds, Where Land Meets the Sea, and Seas and Oceans. The aquarium contains many varieties of marine and freshwater fish, including more types of shark than anywhere else in Britain. It also keeps a variety of mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

Awards

The aquarium's shark dive won the Visit Chester and Cheshire Awards 2010 category for Best Tourism Experience of the Year.Cheshire & Warrington Tourism Board: Visit Chester and Cheshire: And the winners are
(accessed 17 June 2010)

References

External links

* *{{Official website, http://www.blueplanetaquarium.com/ Aquaria in England Tourist attractions in Cheshire Buildings and structures in Cheshire Aspro Parks attractions Ellesmere Port