Nordsøen Oceanarium is a public aquarium

Public aquarium

A public aquarium is the aquatic counterpart of a zoo, housing living aquatic species for viewing. Most public aquariums feature tanks larger than those kept by home aquarists, as well as smaller tanks. Since the first public aquariums were built in the mid-19th century, they have become popular...

 and museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

 that opened in 1998 on the shores of the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

 in Hirtshals

Hirtshals

Hirtshals is a town in Hjørring municipality in Region Nordjylland on the north coast of the island of Vendsyssel-Thy at the top of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark, Europe.-The town of Hirtshals:...

, north Jutland

Region Nordjylland

North Denmark Region or North Jutland Region is an administrative region of Denmark established on January 1, 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which replaced the traditional counties with five larger regions. At the same time, smaller municipalities were merged into larger...

, Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

. It is the largest public aquarium in Northern Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

.

The Oceanarium is part of the Nordsøcentret, which also houses a conference centre. It is specially designed to hold schooling

Shoaling and schooling

In biology, any group of fish that stay together for social reasons are said to be shoaling , and if, in addition, the group is swimming in the same direction in a coordinated manner, they are said to be schooling . In common usage, the terms are sometimes used rather loosely...

, pelagic fish

Pelagic fish

Pelagic fish live near the surface or in the water column of coastal, ocean and lake waters, but not on the bottom of the sea or the lake. They can be contrasted with demersal fish, which do live on or near the bottom, and reef fish which are associated with coral reefs.The marine pelagic...

. It is of great importance that these fish have sufficient space – a lot more space than in traditional fish tanks – to allow them to show natural behaviour

Ethology

Ethology is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a sub-topic of zoology....

. Therefore the Oceanarium is constructed with a volume of 4500000 litre of water. It is not only important that the surface area is large (the Oceanarium is elliptical and measures 22 by), but also the large depth 8 metres (26.2 ft) is necessary for the fishes´ schooling behaviour. Each school of fish can choose depth according to their species, like they do in the sea.

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 octagonal tank in the centre of the museum's old building is 5 metres (16.4 ft) deep and holds 4500000 litre of water. The centre tank does not show a particular habitat from the North Sea, but can be seen as a kind of "show-room" for displaying large specimens of some of the species which are also seen in the habitat tanks - for example cod

Cod

Cod is the common name for genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name for various other fishes. Cod is a popular food with a mild flavor, low fat content and a dense, flaky white flesh. Cod livers are processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of...

, saithe, turbot

Turbot

The turbot is a species of flatfish in the family Scophthalmidae. It is native to marine or brackish waters of the North Atlantic, Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.-Etymology:...

 and sea-bass.

Habitat tanks
Twelve tanks, varying in size from 4000 litre, 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

Norwegian trench

The Norwegian trench or Norwegian channel is an elongated depression in the sea floor off the southern coast of Norway....

 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

Invertebrate

An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...

s. With special "bio-scanners", tourists are able to see details of the animals not possible with the naked eye.

In other theme-tanks can be found some of the small fish found in shallow water; also 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 and the grey seal

Grey Seal

The grey seal is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is a large seal of the family Phocidae or "true seals". It is the only species classified in the genus Halichoerus...

. The Sealarium contains 800,000 litres of seawater which is continually renewed.