Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

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Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

After hearing rave reviews about Okinawa's Ocean Expo Park/Aquarium (沖縄美ら海水族館, Okinawa Churaumi Suizokukan), I decided to see what it was all about. It was well worth my visit. The main tank called the 'Kuroshio Sea' holds 7,500-cubic meters (1,981,290 gallons) of water and features the world's second largest acrylic glass panel, measuring 8.2 meters by 22.5 meters with a thickness of 60 centimeters. In the Kuroshio Sea there were manta ray, sting ray, 3 whale sharks, lots of fish, and sharks. By the time I got to this part of the aquarium it was a little bit after lunch so I decided to eat in the restaurant which looks into the tank. The food was ok but the view was worth it! One particularly interesting view in the Kuroshio Sea Tank was a shark resting in it's back at the bottom of the tank (no it was not dead). I think it was sleeping but couldn't really tell because I wasn't able to see it's eyes. Apparently this occurrence was not uncommon as Edwin told me he'd seen it before on previous visits.

Next on the list of things to see were the tanks which enclosed the sharks. Sharks freak me out and seeing a huge megalodon jaw replica did not bring much comfort when I thought about going back in the ocean to scuba dive! The only shark I could easily identify in the tank was a tiger shark (due to its stripes). There were also bull sharks, sand sharks, and several other types.

After viewing several types of sea turtles and their reconstructed egg laying area (the aquarium is trying to breed them), I attended the dolphin/porpoise show. The show was pretty awesome and I was able to get several clips of video of the dolphins and porpoises doing several tricks.

To see more photos and videos: http://s165.photobucket.com/albums/u53/kimdupak/Okinawa/Okinawa%20Churaumi%20Aquarium%20-%2019%20Jan%202009/

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Comments

[Abigail]

Whale Sharks
I have a question how do the sharks not eat all the fishs?