The , formerly known as the Okinawa Ocean Expo Aquarium, is located within the Ocean Expo Park in

Okinawa, Japan is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 Square kilometre, km2 (880 sq mi). ...

. It is a member of the

Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums The Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA, in Japanese: 日本動物園水族館協会, ''Nihon Dōbutsu-en Suizokukan Kyōkai'' ) is an organisation for the zoo and aquarium community in Japan. As of April 30 2021, JAZA has 90 member zoo ...

(JAZA), and was the largest aquarium in the world until it was surpassed by the

Georgia Aquarium Georgia Aquarium is a public aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It exhibits hundreds of species and thousands of animals across its seven major galleries, all of which reside in more than of water. It was the largest aquarium in the wor ...

in 2005. The aquarium has the exhibit, “Encounter the Okinawan Sea”, which reproduces the sea of Okinawa and most of the creatures that live in it. Churaumi was selected as the name of the aquarium by public vote amongst Japanese people: ''chura'' means "beautiful" or "graceful" in the

Okinawan language The Okinawan language (, , , ) or Central Okinawan, is a Northern Ryukyuan languages, Ryukyuan language spoken primarily in the southern half of the Okinawa Island, island of Okinawa, as well as in the surrounding islands of Kerama Islands, Ker ...

, and ''umi'' means "ocean" in Japanese.

History

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium dolphin show - panoramio

Expo '75 was held in Okinawa, Japan, at the Ocean Expo Park, where an aquarium centered on marine life was displayed. In 1976, the Okinawa Ocean Expo Aquarium was established as a national park on the site of the venue. The Okinawa Ocean Expo Aquarium and the Okichan Theater started operations with the facilities used at the Expo. At that time, the largest main tank in the aquarium had a water volume of , which was the largest in the world. The Okinawa Ocean Expo Aquarium is one of the first

public aquariums A public aquarium (plural: ''public aquaria'' or ''public Water Zoo'') is the aquatic counterpart of a zoo, which houses living aquatic animal and plant specimens for public viewing. Most public aquariums feature tanks larger than those kept b ...

in the world that breeds large

shark 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 Selachimo ...

s and rays such as

whale shark The whale shark (''Rhincodon typus'') is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of .McClain CR, Balk MA, Benfield MC, Branch TA, Chen C, Cosgrove J, D ...

s and

manta ray Manta rays are large rays belonging to the genus ''Mobula'' (formerly its own genus ''Manta''). The larger species, '' M. birostris'', reaches in width, while the smaller, '' M. alfredi'', reaches . Both have triangular Pectoral fin#AnchPect ...

s. At a

symposium In ancient Greece, the symposium ( grc-gre, συμπόσιον ''symposion'' or ''symposio'', from συμπίνειν ''sympinein'', "to drink together") was a part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was acc ...

held in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

in 1985, the Okinawa Ocean Expo Aquarium was rated to have the most advanced breeding technology in the world for long-term rearing. In 1988, the aquarium won the first Koga Award from JAZA in Japan for breeding two generations of

whitetip reef sharks The whitetip reef shark (''Triaenodon obesus'') is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, and the only member of its genus. A small shark that does not usually exceed in length, this species is easily recognizable by its slen ...

. As the park lost incoming tourists, it was believed that a new aquarium would help revive the area and celebrate Okinawa's marine tradition. In addition, since the facility was built for a short-term expo, it deteriorated significantly, and a plan to build a new aquarium was proposed. The Okinawa Ocean Expo Aquarium was closed in August 2002 due to facility deterioration, and the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium was opened on 1 November 2002, with a new facility designed by Yukifusa Kokuba. The number of visitors in the year before the old aquarium closed was about 430,000, but the number of visitors in the year after the opening of the new building increased to 2.75 million. The number of visitors has continued to increase, with the number of visitors reaching 3,784,132 in 2017 and the cumulative number of visitors reaching 50 million in 2019.国営沖縄記念公園事務所-利用者状況
内閣府沖縄総合事務局 2021-05-07 In 2020, the number of tourists in Okinawa Prefecture decreased significantly due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Aquarium

The

public aquarium A public aquarium (plural: ''public aquaria'' or ''public Water Zoo'') is the aquatic counterpart of a zoo, which houses living aquatic animal and plant specimens for public viewing. Most public aquariums feature tanks larger than those kept b ...

is a part of the Ocean Expo Park located in

Motobu, Okinawa is a town located in Kunigami District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. As of October 2016, the town has an estimated population of 13,441 and a density of 250 persons per km2. The total area is . Several islands can be accessed from Motobu, namely ...

. The aquarium is made up of four floors, with tanks containing deep sea creatures, sharks, coral, and tropical fish. The aquarium is set on 19,000 m² of land, with a total of 77 tanks containing 10,000 m³ of water. Water for the

saltwater Saline water (more commonly known as salt water) is water that contains a high concentration of dissolved salts (mainly sodium chloride). On the United States Geological Survey (USGS) salinity scale, saline water is saltier than brackish water, ...

exhibits is pumped into the aquarium from a source 350 m offshore, 24 hours a day.

The Kuroshio Sea

The main tank, called the Kuroshio Sea, is long, wide and deep. It holds of water and features an

acrylic glass Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite, ...

panel measuring with a thickness of , the largest such panel in the world when the aquarium was opened.

Whale shark The whale shark (''Rhincodon typus'') is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of .McClain CR, Balk MA, Benfield MC, Branch TA, Chen C, Cosgrove J, D ...

s and

s are kept alongside many other fish species in the main tank. Since 2015, the aquarium has also had a

reef manta ray The reef manta ray (''Mobula alfredi'') is a species of ray in the family Mobulidae, one of the largest rays in the world. Among generally recognized species, it is the second-largest species of ray, only surpassed by the giant oceanic manta ra ...

with a black body. Since 2018 they also keep

giant oceanic manta ray The giant oceanic manta ray, giant manta ray, or oceanic manta ray (''Mobula birostris'') is a species of ray in the family Mobulidae, and the largest type of ray in the world. It is circumglobal and is typically found in tropical and subtropica ...

. The world's first birth of a manta ray in captivity was at the aquarium in 2007. This species and the giant oceanic manta ray were only recognized as separate species in 2009; they were both classified as ''Manta birostris'' until then. By the time the mother died in 2013, seven puppies were born and four survived. There is a record that the male reef manta ray, which lived in captivity in 1992, lived for about 23 years. The first attempt of keeping whale sharks in an aquarium was in 1980, and it remains one of the few aquariums that maintains the species. Most were obtained from incidental catches in coastal nets set by fishers (none after 2009), but two were strandings. Several of these were already weak from capture or stranding and some were released, but initial survival rates were low. After the initial difficulties in maintaining the species had been resolved, some have survived long-term in captivity. The record for a whale shark in captivity is an individual that, as of 2021, has lived for more than 26 years in the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium from Okinawa Ocean Expo Aquarium. Okinawa Churaumi is trying to breed whale sharks in captivity, which has never been achieved by an aquarium. Their oldest male reached sexual maturity around 2012 and began to show an interest in females in 2014. The exhibited until 2021 female was on display (another is maintained away from the public) is long. There were three whale sharks, but they have been moved to a separate tank to make room for breeding. In 2021, a 13-year-old female whale shark that had been in captivity in the Kuroshio Sea tank was transferred to a medical treatment tank in the sea due to poor health, and later died. The cause of death is thought to be feeding difficulties from skeletal abnormalities in the

jaw The jaw is any opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term ''jaws'' is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth and serv ...

and a twisted

pylorus The pylorus ( or ), or pyloric part, connects the stomach to the duodenum. The pylorus is considered as having two parts, the ''pyloric antrum'' (opening to the body of the stomach) and the ''pyloric canal'' (opening to the duodenum). The ''pylori ...

The Coral Sea

In the Coral Sea tank, 450 colonies of reef-building

corals Corals are marine invertebrates within the class (biology), class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important C ...

of about 80 species are bred and exhibited. The tank has a capacity of , no roof, a structure that allows strong sunlight to enter, and a constant supply of fresh seawater to enable large-scale breeding of coral. The Coral Sea tank is made to emulate the coral reefs in Motobu. In 2021, the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium was temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was confirmed that ''

Acropora microphthalma ''Acropora microphthalma'' is a species of acroporid coral found in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the southwest and northern Indian Ocean, the central Indo-Pacific, Australia, Southeast Asia, Japan, the East China Sea and the oceanic west and c ...

'' gave spawned in the daytime for the first time.

The Shark Research Lab

Sharks such as bull sharks, tiger sharks,

silvertip shark The silvertip shark (''Carcharhinus albimarginatus'') is a large species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, with a fragmented distribution throughout the tropical Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is often encountered around offshore is ...

s, and

silky shark The silky shark (''Carcharhinus falciformis''), also known by numerous names such as blackspot shark, gray whaler shark, olive shark, ridgeback shark, sickle shark, sickle-shaped shark and sickle silk shark, is a species of requiem shark, in the ...

s are bred in the shark research lab tank. Some bull sharks kept in aquariums have lived for more than 42 years. In 2016, the aquarium showed an attempt to raise an adult

great white shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans. It is nota ...

. The great white shark exhibit was successful, but it died three days later, leading to criticism from animal rights groups. In 2019, aquariums captured a pregnant tiger shark and succeeded in giving birth in a shark research lab tank.

Okichan Theater and Dolphin Lagoon

Near the aquarium is the Dolphin Show Stadium, called the Okichan Theater, where viewers can touch the animals and watch the show's performance for free. There is also a dolphin contact facility called Dolphin Lagoon, which houses several species of dolphin. The Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin named Okichan has been owned since the opening of the Okinawa Ocean Expo Aquarium and has been bred for 45 years as of 2020. In 2003, the bottlenose dolphin named Fuji's

caudal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

was 75% necrotic and had to be resected. The aquarium collaborated with

Bridgestone is a Japanese multinational tire manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (1889–1976) in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of , meaning 'stone bridge' in Japan ...

to develop the world's first artificial caudal fin to attach to Fuji. Fuji died of infectious hepatitis in 2014 at an estimated age of 45.

Other activities

There is a

manatee Manatees (family Trichechidae, genus ''Trichechus'') are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living species ...

exhibition featuring manatees given to the aquarium by the Mexican government and a

sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead, ...

exhibition. A spawning ground dedicated to sea turtles is set up in the exhibition facility.

West Indian manatee The West Indian manatee (''Trichechus manatus''), also known as the North American manatee, is a large, aquatic mammal native to warm coastal areas of the Caribbean, from the eastern US to northern Brazil. Living alone or in herds, it feeds on un ...

s have also given birth in the facility.

Research and conservation

At the Churaumi Aquarium, the Okinawa Churashima Foundation supervises conservation activities and conducts animal research. The aquarium has won the breeding award from JAZA for 26 kinds of animals, such as the reef manta ray and

Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin The Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (''Tursiops aduncus'') is a species of bottlenose dolphin. This dolphin grows to long, and weighs up to . It lives in the waters around India, northern Australia, South China, the Red Sea, and the eastern ...

. In particular, it is characterized by the large breeding of large sharks and rays, which are rare in other locations. The Churaumi Aquarium collects blood from wild whale sharks, measures the total length and circumference of the body, collects tissues for DNA analysis and chemical analysis, and observes behavior in the natural sea using electronic labels to obtain important information on the breeding habits and ecology of whale sharks. It also conducts tests for future breeding, such as monitoring the behavior of whale sharks during breeding and the concentration of hormones in the blood obtained by blood sampling. The aquarium is conducting research on the diversity of marine life found around Okinawa, and is engaged in activities that contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of the natural environment. The aquarium is investigating many

humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hump ...

s with local people and domestic and foreign researchers. In a joint study with the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

in 2021, it was revealed that 43.48% of the humpback whales around the Philippines were the same as the individuals confirmed in Okinawa and were moving between the two waters, revealing the migration route of humpback whales between Okinawa and the Philippines from the previously unknown

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

feeding ground.　 As a research institute, the public aquarium contributes to the discovery of new species of marine life. New species discovered in the past include ''Eumunida balteipes'', ''Hexagonaloides bathyalis'', and ''Synactinernus churaumi'', a new species of sea anemone that has been studied for over 15 years.

Gallery

Exterior File:Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium front entrance 20110418.jpg File:Churaumi-fishing Park.JPG File:Cyuraumi Aquarium - panoramio.jpg File:Side view of Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium.JPG File:Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium main hall entrance 20191109.jpg Aquarium File:Corals in Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium 1.JPG File:Fish in Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium.JPG File:Asterodiscides japonicus by OpenCage.jpg File:Humphead Wrasse - Churaumi aquarium, Okinawa, Japan.jpg File:Carcharhinus brachyurus by OpenCage.jpg Main tank aquarium File:Ishikawa, Motobu, Kunigami District, Okinawa Prefecture 905-0206, Japan - panoramio (1).jpg File:USMC-081220-M-0902C-004.jpg File:Churaumi aquarium, Okinawa, Japan (921839946).jpg Image:Okinawa Aquarium.jpg File:Ishikawa, Motobu, Kunigami District, Okinawa Prefecture 905-0206, Japan - panoramio (2).jpg Okichan Theater File:Pseudorca crassidens at Okichan Theater 20070201.jpg File:Churaumi aquarium, Okinawa, Japan (37108352).jpg File:冲绳美丽海水族馆的海豚正在进行表演.jpg File:20080327OkiGondou.JPG File:有趣 (16325861235).jpg Sea turtle and manatees File:Turtle pond and nesting ground in front of Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium.JPG File:USMC-081220-M-0902C-001.jpg File:Sea Turtle side - Churaumi Aquarium.jpg File:美ら海水族館ウミガメ館 20130205 - panoramio.jpg File:Manatee at Ocean Expo Park.jpg