Nordsøen Oceanarium is a

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 ...

and

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

that opened in 1998 on the shores of the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

Hirtshals Hirtshals is a town and seaport on the coast of Skagerrak on the island of Vendsyssel-Thy at the top of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark, Europe. It is located in Hjørring municipality in Region Nordjylland. The town of Hirtshals has a p ...

, north Jutland,

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. Their main tank, which holds , is the largest in Northern Europe,Nordsøen Oceanarium:
The Open Sea.
'' Retrieved 8 December 2012. but the Oceanarium also has several smaller habitat aquariums and an exhibit with seals. Species displayed are native to the oceans around Denmark. The Oceanarium is part of the Nordsøcentre, which also houses a conference centre.

History

The Oceanarium was opened in 1998. It was destroyed by fire in December 2003 and reopened in July 2005.

Exhibits

The centre tank

The large elliptical tank in the centre of the museum's old building measures and holds of water. The centre tank was designed to resemble the open sea in the North Sea, and specially to hold schooling,

pelagic fish Pelagic fish live in the pelagic zone of ocean or lake waters—being neither close to the bottom nor near the shore—in contrast with demersal fish that do live on or near the bottom, and reef fish that are associated with coral re ...

. It is also a "show-room" for displaying large specimens of some of the species which are also seen in the habitat tanks – for example

cod Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus '' Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not call ...

saithe The saithe ( or ) (''Pollachius virens'') is a species of marine fish in the Pollock genus '' Pollachius''. Together with '' P. pollachius'', it is generally referred to in the United States as pollock. Other names include the Boston blue (separ ...

turbot The turbot (''Scophthalmus maximus'') is a relatively large species of flatfish in the family Scophthalmidae. It is a demersal fish native to marine or brackish waters of the Northeast Atlantic, Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. It is an ...

and sea-bass. Other large species in the tank are

spiny dogfish The spiny dogfish (''Squalus acanthias''), spurdog, mud shark, or piked dogfish is one of the best known species of the Squalidae (dogfish) family of sharks, which is part of the Squaliformes order. While these common names may apply to several ...

, skates, and

ocean sunfish The ocean sunfish or common mola (''Mola mola'') is one of the largest bony fish in the world. It was misidentified as the heaviest bony fish, which was actually a different species, ''Mola alexandrini''. Adults typically weigh between . The spe ...

. In total, there are about 2–3000 fish in this tank.

Habitat tanks

Twelve tanks, varying in size from , present different habitats from the North Sea - from the sandy bottom by the jetties to the muddy seafloor at several hundred metres in the Norwegian Trench between Denmark and Norway. In each tank fish and other sea animals which can be found in that particular habitat are shown. The oceanarium tries to make the bottom and the surroundings as authentic as possible, however with the appropriate compromises.

Theme tanks

In addition to the centre tank and habitat tanks the oceanarium has a large number of theme-tanks with fish or other marine animals, which may contain animals which are impossible to show in other tanks, or animals subject to special theme exhibitions; an example would be the exhibition "Creepy Crawlies". Here the oceanarium presents different

invertebrate 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 chordate ...

s. With special "bio-scanners", visitors are able to see details of the animals not possible with the naked eye. Other theme-tanks contain small fish found in shallow water. In the Activity area there are tanks which staff biologists use for demonstrations.

Sealarium

In the Oceanarium's large outdoor seal pool, the Sealarium, visitors can get close to the two seal species common in Danish waters – the

harbour seal The harbor (or harbour) seal (''Phoca vitulina''), also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinniped (walruses, eared se ...

and the

grey seal The grey seal (''Halichoerus grypus'') is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. In Latin Halichoerus grypus means "hook-nosed sea pig". It is a large seal of the family Phocidae, which are commonly referred to as "true seals" or " ...

. The Sealarium contains of seawater which is continually renewed.Nordsøen Oceanarium:
Seal Colony Limfjorden.
'' Retrieved 8 December 2012.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nordsoen Oceanarium 1998 establishments in Denmark Aquaria in Denmark Museums established in 1998 Buildings and structures in Hjørring Municipality Tourist attractions in the North Jutland Region Hirtshals