Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life Aquarium
Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life Aquarium (formerly Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World ) is a museum and aquarium in the Orakei suburb of Auckland , New Zealand . The main entrance is at 23 Tamaki Drive on Waitemata Harbor .
It opened in 1985 and was created on the initiative of marine archaeologist and diver Kelly Tarlton (1937–1985). It was installed in underground sewage collecting tanks that were no longer required at the time. For the main tank, a vaulted tunnel was created using a newly developed technique instead of the flat viewing panes that had previously been used in aquariums. The project is also one of the first in which visitors are transported through the observation area on a slow-moving conveyor belt.
history
In 1983 Kelly Tarlton proposed the construction of an aquarium in the underground wastewater reservoirs, no longer needed since the 1960s, on a slope on the coast of Auckland. The fish should be able to be observed from inside the tank through a 110 m long acrylic glass tunnel.
After ten months of construction, the aquarium opened in 1985. Tarlton produced the tunnel segments required for this by placing flat acrylic glass blanks on a mold and heating them in an oven until the plastic had adapted to the shape. Some of the segments weigh over a ton. Because of the refraction of light between air, acrylic glass and water, the fish appear about a third smaller than they actually are.
After building the tunnel and testing it for leaks, a landscape of reefs and caves was built out of concrete. In a portion of the basin 1800 Marine animals were used in a second section sharks (including bronze sharks , cow shark , wobbegong and dogfish ) and stingray . The native sharks are only kept in the tank for a short time and then released again in the fishing area.
In 1994, the aquarium was supplemented by a replica of the hut used by Robert Falcon Scott on his Antarctic expedition. In addition, a colony of Antarctic penguins was created in a cooled room .
In December 2004, Stingray Bay, a 350,000 liter open pool with a depth of up to 2.6 m with walls made of acrylic glass, was opened.
In 2008, Village Roadshow bought the facility for $ 13 million. The company also owns the Sydney Aquarium , Oceanworld Manly , Sea World Gold Coast, and other similar establishments.
In December 2010, Kelly Tarltons received five sand tiger sharks from the United States.
In 2011, Village Roadshow sold Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World and other facilities managed from Sydney, Australia to Merlin Entertainments . In March 2012, Merlin Entertainments announced an investment of 5.5 million New Zealand dollars in new exhibitions, a different division of the rooms and a more interactive concept, which should be implemented by September 29, 2012. At the same time, the aquarium was renamed “Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life Aquarium” to match Merlin Entertainment's global brand Sea Life Centers .
Facilities
The main exhibits are Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World .
- Antarctic Ice Adventure and Scott Base opened in 1994. Visitors can watch the penguins through a pane of glass in their cooled enclosure. Then the tour takes you through a replica of the hut that Robert Falcon Scott used on his South Pole expedition in 1912 . Until the area was redesigned in 2012, visitors were driven through a separate area of the penguin enclosure in a Snow-Trac type tracked vehicle , a model that had also been used in polar research . In this are king penguins and gentoo penguins .
- NIWA Southern Oceans Discovery is a space on Stingray Bay and is a fun way to educate children about the marine world and Antarctica.
- the stingray Bay is a 350 m³ end, open acrylic basin. In addition to the stingray species Dasyatis brevicaudata and eagle rays , the basin is home to several other fish species such as the blue maomao ( Scorpis violacea ). There is a food stand in this part of the museum.
- Pacific Shark Zone and Shipwreck Explorer were the first parts of the aquarium. A conveyor belt transports visitors through a 110 m long acrylic glass tunnel through the aquarium. The shark aquarium holds 3785 m³ and is home to several species of shark, the second tank mainly schooling fish such as the Blue Maomao. For an additional fee, you can let yourself be pulled through the shark tank in a net cage or go into the shark tank in a diving suit.
- the Fish Gallery and the Seahorse Kingdom house smaller aquariums that are mostly stocked with individual species, including Natterer's Sägesalmler , a collection of seahorses , moray eels , crabs and poisonous fish such as stone fish and puffer fish .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h website of the aquarium
- ^ Edmund Vernon Sale: Kelly: the adventurous life of Kelly Tarlton. Heinemann Reed, Auckland 1988
- ↑ Engineering to 1990 - IPENZ , Engineering Publications Co Ltd, p.8
- ↑ About MyFun, accessed August 28, 2010
- ↑ Five fearsome fish arrive at Kelly Tarlton's - National - NZ Herald News New Zealand Herald on December 15, 2010
- ^ Dionne Christian: Voyage on a pirate-inspired expedition. in: The New Zealand Herald, September 15, 2012 online
- ↑ Latest News - we're changing . In: Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life . Merlin Entertainments , July 4, 2012, archived from the original on January 26, 2016 ; accessed on April 23, 2019 (English, original website no longer available).
Coordinates: 36 ° 50 ′ 45 ″ S , 174 ° 49 ′ 2 ″ O