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National Aquarium of New Zealand facts for kids

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National Aquarium of New Zealand
Napier aquarium logo.jpg
National Aquarium of New Zealand's logo
Napier aquarium entrance.jpg
Entrance to the aquarium
Date opened 1976
Location Napier, New Zealand
Coordinates 39°30′03″S 176°55′08″E / 39.5007°S 176.9189°E / -39.5007; 176.9189
No. of animals 1500+
No. of species 50+
Volume of largest tank 1.5 million litres
Major exhibits Oceanarium, fish, reptiles, kiwi, penguins

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.

The aquarium moved to its current location on Marine Parade in 1976. 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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

Oceanarium tunnel napier aquarium
Inside the 50m acrylic tunnel of the 1.5 million litre oceanarium

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
Viewing window napier aquarium
Viewing window into the oceanarium

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Acuario nacional de Nueva Zelanda para niños

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