Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium | |
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26°41′40″N 127°52′41″E / 26.69439°N 127.87794°E | |
Date opened | 1 November 2002 [1] |
Location | Motobu, Okinawa, Japan |
Land area | 19,000 m2 (200,000 sq ft)[1] |
No. of animals | 11,000[2] |
No. of species | 720[2] |
Volume of largest tank | 7,500,000 litres (1,981,000 US gal)[4] |
Total volume of tanks | 10,000,000 litres (2,642,000 US gal)[5] |
Annual visitors | 3.5 million + [3][1] |
Memberships | JAZA[6] |
Major exhibits | The Kuroshio Sea tank etc. |
Management | Okinawa Churashima Foundation |
Website | churaumi |
The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium (沖縄美ら海水族館, Okinawa Churaumi Suizokukan), formerly known as the Okinawa Ocean Expo Aquarium, is a public aquarium located within the Ocean Expo Park in Okinawa, Japan. The aquarium's Kuroshio sea tank was the largest aquarium tank in the world until it was surpassed by the Georgia Aquarium in 2005.
The aquarium has the exhibit, "Encounter the Okinawan Sea",[7] which reproduces the sea of Okinawa and most of the creatures that live in it.[2] Churaumi was selected as the name of the aquarium by public vote amongst Japanese people: chura means "beautiful" or "graceful" in the Okinawan language, and umi means "ocean" in Japanese.
It is a member of the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA),[6] the aquarium is accredited as a Registered Museum by the Museum Act from Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.[8]
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