National Aquarium of New Zealand
| National Aquarium of New Zealand | |
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 National Aquarium of New Zealand's logo | |
 Entrance to the aquarium | |
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| 39°30′03″S 176°55′08″E / 39.5007°S 176.9189°E | |
| Date opened | 1976 |
| Location | Napier, New Zealand |
| No. of animals | 1500+ |
| No. of species | 50+ |
| Volume of largest tank | 1.5 million litres |
| Major exhibits | Oceanarium, fish, reptiles, kiwi, penguins |
| Owner | Napier City Council |
| Website | www |
The National Aquarium of New Zealand, formerly Napier Aquarium, is a public aquarium on Marine Parade in Napier, New Zealand. It was started in 1957 and moved to its present location in 1976. It is owned by Napier City Council. In addition to many fish species, exhibits include kiwi, tuatara, turtles, little penguins and some lizards.
History
In 1957, members of Napier's Thirty Thousand Club and the Hawke's Bay Aquarium and Water Garden Society decided to create a public aquarium with tropical fish and unusual specimens of local fish in the basement of the War Memorial Hall that was being built on Marine Parade.[1]
The aquarium moved to its current location on Marine Parade in 1976.[2] In its first year of its life it attracted 230,000 visitors at a time when the population of Napier was about 50,000. In its first 5 years of operation over 750,000 people visited.
The aquarium acquired piranhas from Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., in 1979, trading seahorses for them.[3] In 2019 the 21 elderly piranhas remaining were euthanased, as new government rules no longer allowed them to be kept in the aquarium's tanks.[4]
In 2002 the aquarium underwent a NZ$8 million extension and renovation which included the addition of a 1.5 million litre oceanarium with a 50m acrylic tunnel and the replacement of all the original tanks with newly constructed ones. It was renamed the National Aquarium of New Zealand.[2]
Since 2017, aquarium staff have voted for the best behaved and naughtiest Penguin of the Month from the resident colony of little penguins, which has proved very popular on social media.[5]
Facilities and exhibits
There are two temporary exhibit halls (one on the upper level and the other adjacent to the oceanarium), a souvenir shop and cafe.
Exhibits include:
- East Coast LAB (Life at the Boundary) – Hikurangi plate boundary
- African Cichlids
- Amazon Pacu
- Asian Tropical
- Asian Paddyfield
- Dinosaur fossils
- Asian Water Garden
- Australian Out Back
- Australian Water Dragons
- Waterfall
- Coral Reef
- Tuatara
- New Zealand Stream
- Kiwi Enclosure
- New Zealand Fresh Water
- Little Penguins
- Eels
- Hawksbill Sea Turtle
- Rocky Shore
- Seahorse
- Oceanarium
See also
References
- ^ Fowler, Michael (27 October 2018). "Historic Hawke's Bay: Aquarium began in a basement". Hawke's Bay Today. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
- ^ a b "History & building architecture". National Aquarium of New Zealand. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
- ^ Laing, Doug (4 December 2019). "'Tighter rules' force National Aquarium of NZ in Napier to euthanase its piranhas". Hawke's Bay Today. Retrieved 4 December 2019 – via nzherald.co.nz.
- ^ Sharpe, Marty (4 December 2019). "Piranha euthanased at National Aquarium due to new regulations". Stuff. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
- ^ "Facebook users have fallen in love with Penguin of the Month". NZ Herald. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
External links
- Official website
Media related to National Aquarium of New Zealand at Wikimedia Commons
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| Aquariums |
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