L'Oceanogràfic (, , 'The Oceanographic') is an

oceanarium An oceanarium can be either a marine mammal park, such as Marineland of Canada, or a large-scale Public aquarium, aquarium, such as the Lisbon Oceanarium, presenting an ocean habitat with marine (ocean), marine animals, especially large ocean dwe ...

situated in the

Garden of the Turia The Jardín del Turia is a public urban park located in the former riverbed of the Turia River in the city of Valencia, Spain. The park spans approximately 136 hectares, with plans to expand to 160.5 hectares in the future. It stretches nearly ...

to the southeast of the city center of

Valencia, Spain Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, where different marine habitats are represented. It was designed by the architect

Félix Candela Félix Candela Outeriño (; January 27, 1910 – December 7, 1997) was a Spanish and Mexican architect who was born in Madrid and at the age of 26, emigrated to Mexico, acquiring double nationality. He is known for his significant ...

and the structural engineers

Alberto Domingo Alberto Domingo is a Spanish engineer and Doctor of Civil Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. With his colleague Carlos Lázaro, he has designed and built a number of structure A structure is an arrangement and organization ...

and Carlos Lázaro. It is integrated inside the cultural complex known as the Ciutat de les Arts i de les Ciències (City of Arts and Sciences). It was opened on 14 February 2003.

General information

The Oceanographic is the largest complex of its type in Europe, spanning and holding a capacity of of water, including a

dolphinarium A dolphinarium is an aquarium for dolphins. The dolphins are usually kept in a pool, though occasionally they may be kept in pens in the open sea, either for research or public performances. Some dolphinariums (sometimes called dolphinaria in plu ...

and a ocean tank with

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

rays Ray or RAY may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), the bony or horny spine on ray-finned fish Science and mathematics * Half-line (geometry) or ray, half of a line split at an ...

and other fish. It is home to 45,000 animals from 500 different species—including sharks,

penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

sea lion Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short and thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they make up the family Otariidae, eared seals. ...

walrus The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large pinniped marine mammal with discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. It is the only extant species in the family Odobeni ...

es (until 2019),

beluga Beluga may refer to: Animals *Beluga (sturgeon) * Beluga whale Vehicles * Airbus Beluga, a large transport airplane * Airbus BelugaXL, a larger transport airplane * Beluga-class submarine, a class of Russian SSA diesel-electric submarine * U ...

whales, birds, reptiles and invertebrate—all inhabiting nine two-tiered underwater towers representing the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

's major ecosystems. The aquariums utilize

sea water Seawater, or sea water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% (35 g/L, 35 ppt, 600 mM). This means that every kilogram (roughly one liter by volume) of seawater has approximate ...

pumped from the ''La Malva-Rosa'' beach. The park is divided into ten areas: the marine areas are arranged into

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

habitats, the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

, Arctic islands, the

tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

, the temperate seas and the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

. The park also includes a dolphinarium, an area of

mangrove swamp Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangrove trees cannot withs ...

s and

marshland In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in general ...

, and a garden with more than 80 different species of plants.

Design and operation

The steel-fiber reinforced concrete thin-shell structure was designed by renown architect

, at age 87 in 1997, and structural engineers

and

Carlos Lázaro Carlos Lázaro Vallejo (born 13 November 1990) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Although born in Medina del Campo, Lázaro grew up in Olmedo (also located in Valladolid), where he began to play football. A ...

. The distinctive hyperbolic parabola (hypars) shape of the roof is reminiscent of the Los Manantiales Restaurant in Mexico City, which Candela designed in 1958.

Transportation

L'Oceanogràfic can be reached via Metro, disembark at Alameda Station or through bus number 15, 25 and 95. It is also served by

Metrovalencia Metrovalencia is an urban rail including rapid transit and trams, serving Valencia and its metropolitan area. The network is a modern amalgamation of former FEVE narrow gauge electric-operated suburban railways. It is a large suburban network ...

Line 10 tram from its Oceanogràfic stop.

Gallery

File:White Shark Valencia's oceanografic.jpg,

Sand tiger shark The sand tiger shark (''Carcharias taurus''), grey/gray nurse shark (in Australia), spotted ragged-tooth shark (in South Africa), or blue-nurse sand tiger, is a species of shark that inhabits subtropical and temperate waters worldwide. It inhabit ...

s in the ocean tank File:L'Oceanografic, Valencia, Spain 3 - Jan 07.jpg, Mediterranean

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine (ocean), marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four Family (biology), families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and ...

aquarium File:Beluga oceanografic.jpg, Beluga whale in the arctic tank File:14. Februar 2002, an diesem Tag wurde das Ozeaneum in Valencia eröfnet. 09.jpg File:14. Februar 2002, an diesem Tag wurde das Ozeaneum in Valencia eröfnet. 20.jpg File:14. Februar 2002, an diesem Tag wurde das Ozeaneum in Valencia eröfnet. 27.jpg File:14. Februar 2002, an diesem Tag wurde das Ozeaneum in Valencia eröfnet. 28.jpg File:14. Februar 2002, an diesem Tag wurde das Ozeaneum in Valencia eröfnet. 16.jpg File:14. Februar 2002, an diesem Tag wurde das Ozeaneum in Valencia eröfnet. 47.jpg File:14. Februar 2002, an diesem Tag wurde das Ozeaneum in Valencia eröfnet. 48.jpg

References

External links