The Malta National Aquarium (''Akkwarju Nazzjonali ta' Malta'' in Maltese) is the largest aquarium in the

Maltese Islands Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. It is located in

Qawra Qawra ( mt, Il-Qawra, ) is a zone within St. Paul's Bay in the Northern Region, Malta, Northern Region, Malta. It is located close to Buġibba and Salina, Malta, Salina, and it is a popular tourist resort, containing many hotels and restaurants. ...

, in the northern part of the island of Malta, and it hosts more than 175 different

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of various animals, including

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

, mollusca, reptiles and

insects Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...

History

The project for the creation of a National Aquarium site in Malta dates back to 1993. The town of

was eventually preferred to the original idea of building it near Marsascala, being more easily accessible by tourists and closer to Bugibba and

San Pawl il-Baħar St. Paul's Bay ( mt, San Pawl il-Baħar) is a town in the Northern Region of Malta, sixteen kilometres () northwest of the capital Valletta. Saint Paul's Bay is the largest town in the Northern Region and the seat of the Northern Regional Comm ...

, at the time lacking in tourist accommodation facilities. The building of the site was financed with help from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

(about 49%) and it was inaugurated in October 2013, two years after the building was started.

Description

The building, whose shape resembles a stylized starfish, is located on the Qawra seafront and it is equipped with some recreational facilities for children and a restaurant. The Aquarium houses more than 175 different animal species, divided into tanks that reproduce some of the typical underwater scenarios of the Maltese islands. The main tank, 12 meters in diameter, allows the visitor to walk under a special gallery and to see the marine species inside from below. In addition to fishes and mollusca, the site also hosts a

terrarium A terrarium (plural: terraria or terrariums) is usually a sealable glass container containing soil and plants that can be opened for maintenance to access the plants inside; however, terraria can also be open to the atmosphere. Terraria are ofte ...

with several tanks containing reptiles, amphibians (frogs,

chameleons Chameleons or chamaeleons (family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 202 species described as of June 2015. The members of this family are best known for their distinct range of colors, bein ...

and snakes among others) and exotic

invertebrates Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordat ...

. The Aquarium is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Malta, and it has contributed to the increase in visitors from abroad in recent years. Among the species housed in the Aquarium there are, among others, specimens of cat sharks,

clown fish Clownfish or anemonefish are fishes from the subfamily Amphiprioninae in the family Pomacentridae. Thirty species of clownfish are recognized: one in the genus '' Premnas'', while the remaining are in the genus ''Amphiprion''. In the wild, t ...

octopuses An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, ...

and different types of jellyfish, housed in special thematic tanks. In 2020, due to the temporary closure of the site caused by the spread of the

COVID-19 pandemic in Malta The COVID-19 pandemic in Malta is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first case of the disease in Malta was an Italian 12-year-old girl on 7 Mar ...

, maintenance and expansion works were undertaken on the site.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.aquarium.com.mt/ 2013 establishments in Malta Tourist attractions in Malta

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

Buildings and structures in St. Paul's Bay

History

Description

See also

References

External links