A Tour of China in Winter
Part 4b
A Visit to the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium
By Howard Norfolk
Original to Aquarticles.com
The Shanghai Ocean Aquarium has a site that other aquarium operators can
only dream about. It is right next to the base of Shanghai's premier modern tourist
attraction - the Oriental Pearl TV Tower.
 
An enviable site
Click on photos for enlargements, then
go 'BACK'
The aquarium is one of the largest in Asia. It opened in February 2002,
with a total floor space of over 20,000 square metres. Its cost of US$55 million was
funded by a large Chinese group and two companies from Singapore. Having seen its roof
from the observation deck of the Pearl Tower I was keen to take a look!
Admission is 110 yuan (US$13.29) for adults and 70 yuan (US$8.46)
for children, with cheaper rates for seniors. Children under 0.8 metres get in free.
The aquarium is divided into 8 zones with 28 themes, and displays more
than 10,000 individual specimens of 300 species. We followed a set path that wound through
the building.
Turning to the right after entering, we came to the
'Yangtse River Rare Aquatic Animals Exhibition' - a display of the native fish of Shanghai
and its hinterland. The Yangtse is a temperate river (it was only 6°C in Shanghai when we
were there), so these are temperate fish, not tropical.
 
The Yangtse room had small tanks in the centre and some larger ones
around the outside.
 
A tank contained sturgeon and my perennial favourite, Myxocyprinus
asiaticus, the Chinese sailfin sucker.
Smaller tanks contained smaller fish. I have a fondness for
Cyprinidae (minnows and carps), and was interested to see Onychostoma simus,
which the aquarium commonly named as white barbel, and Percocypris pingi, or
'perch-like barbel.'
This loach, Botia superciliaris, is sometimes found in
aquarium stores under the name 'golden zebra loach'. Here, the aquarium calls it 'Chinese
loach'. There were signs like this beside each tank, giving information about the fish in
both Chinese and English.
Another fish aquarists may come across is the Chinese bitterling, Rhodeus
sinensis. These were of course housed with mussels, into which the females
deposit their eggs by means of a special laying tube. (The Chinese cultivate these large
freshwater mussels for their pearls, which can be in many colours).
 
An open pond housed grass carp, Ctenopharyngodon idella. Coloured
versions have been developed for ornamental use, but these fish are also extensively
farmed, and fished for, as food.
A sign pointed to the Amazon Show Area, which
consisted of several zones:
 
We entered an area landscaped as a forest, with tanks and ponds full
of fish.
This led to the first of four fantastic tunnels through large tanks.
  
The tunnel displayed fish of the Amazon, and particularly prominent
was this 'peacock cichlid' or 'peacock bass', Cichla ocellaris.
Some tanks had interesting fish:
The electric eel, Electrophorus electricus, grows to 8'
(2.5 m) long. Like a battery, its head is positive and its tail negative, and it can
generate a shock of up to 600 to 800 volts. It uses electricity for hunting and
self-defence, and also for navigation in muddy waters.
The South American lungfish, Lepidosiren paradoxa, is a
primitive air breathing fish that must rise to the surface to fill its lungs. Its
ancestors were dominant millions of years ago but now there just six species (others being
in Australia and Africa). Should its water supply dry up it can survive dormant for up to
two years buried in the mud.
  
We then went downstairs - not by a stairway, but by a double
escalator that descended through a huge tank full of more Amazon fish.
And on the lower floor was a series of landscaped aquariums.
There was the Australian freshwater sawfish, Pristis microdon, and
the large South American arapaima.
The Mangrove Community tank contained some brackish water fish
familiar to aquarists, including scats (Scatophagus argus), archer fish (Toxetes
chatareus), mono or butterbream (Monodactylus argenteus), and the Australian
stripey (Microcanthus strigatus). These fishes' food chain depends on falling
leaf litter.
As soon as I saw the giraffes I knew what we'd find next!
Yes....the African zone.
  
There was a crowd of Reef Lake cichlids, in a lake-like setting. The
fish could be viewed from above.
 
A similar set-up opposite was a Nile River biotope. Nile tilapia (Oreochromis
niloticus) were dominant...
And on the bottom was the featherfin squeaker (Synodontis
eupterus), an ' upside-down catfish.'
 
There was a series of smaller tanks.
  
They included this Chinese water dragon (Physignathus cocincinus)
and a fire eel (Mastacembelus erythrotaenia), and somewhere I took this photo of
a giant gourami (Osphronemus goramy).
 
There were tanks of colourful reef fish, and (on the right) a 'Reef
at Night' tank, showing the less colourful fish that are active at night.
These Japanese spider crabs (Macrocheira kempferi) can grow
to be 25 ft. (8 m.) across.
We then came across a series of biotope pond aquariums:
 
A scene from the U.S. Atlantic coast displayed a collection of
horseshoe crabs, Limulus polyphemus.
  
A tropical lagoon was home to black tip sharks and green turtles.
 
The 'Rocky Shore' exhibit illustrated how animals survive in tidal
pools. It contained creatures from Australia, including sea urchins, sea stars, and
stripeys.
 
A large aquarium displayed manta rays.
The Shanghai Aquarium is best known for its tunnels,
and their combined length of 155 metres is the longest in the world. We came to a series
of them:
 
This long winding tunnel had a huge shoal of jacks.
Sitting conveniently next to its sign was an estuary grouper, Epinephelus
tauvina.
  
Sharks in the next tunnel swam right overhead.
 
A third tunnel held a variety of fish, including snappers, grunts
and porgies.
Our visit was nearly over, and we had a snack in the aquarium cafe.
This was the non-tourist season, so the cafe was almost empty.
The menu very much catered to western tastes, and was what one might
find at a U.S. truck stop, except for one nice Chinese touch - the 'student,' 'happy,'
'baby' and 'cheerfull' kid meals. How about one for the 'bored' or 'disgruntled' kid ?!
Fortunately the prices weren't in dollars, they were in yuan. If you can read the
prices, 10yuan = US$1.20.
To exit the aquarium we had to pass through the gift
shop:
 
There was a large main room and a jewellery section.
 
In the window was a nice collection of shells.
  
Lots and lots of shiny souvenirs.
  
I liked the realistic tiles, and bought three of them.
 
'Jurassic Home' provides a learning experience for children, who can
'excavate' the dinosaurs.
Or they could put together these wooden models.
  
Children had lots of books to choose from, and some realistic
stuffed toys.
The BBC gets around! I was surprised to see all these BBC videos,
with labels and pricing aimed at Chinese viewers.
 
But I think these were aimed at western tourists!
The Shanghai Ocean Aquarium must rank as one of the best in the World. I
wondered what the home aquarium scene was like in Shanghai, and the next day I planned to
visit some aquarium stores...
Go to the next in this series:
China Tour Part 4c: Jiangyin Road, a Street
of Aquarium Shops in Shanghai
The whole Tour of China in Winter series:
Part 1a: Introduction, and the Tourist Sights
of Beijing (Tourist sights)
Part 1b: A Visit to the Beijing Aquarium
(Public aquarium)
Part 1c: An Arcade of Aquarium Shops in
Beijing (Aquarium shops)
Part 1d: The Beijing Museum of
Natural History (Tourist sights)
Part 2a: Xi'an and the Army of
Terracotta Warriors (Tourist sights)
Part 2b: An Aquarium Market in Xi'an
(Aquarium shops)
Part 3a: The Spectacular Scenery of Guilin
(Tourist sights)
Part 3b: A Visit to the Guilin Ocean
Aquarium (Public aquarium)
Part 4a: The Space-Age City of Shanghai (Tourist sights)
Part 4b: A Visit to the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium (Public
aquarium)
Part 4c: Jiangyin Road, a Street of Aquarium
Shops in Shanghai (Aquarium shops)
Part 5: Fish Seen in Chinese
Restaurants (Native fish)
Part 6a: A Photographic Visit to Ocean Park,
Hong Kong (Public aquarium)
Part 6b: The Goldfish Pagoda at Ocean Park,
Hong Kong (Public aquarium)
See also (after a previous visit to Hong Kong):
Tung Choi. The Amazing Aquarium Store Street in Hong
Kong (Aquarium shops)
Or, back to:
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