National Aquarium Denmark

For the Blue Planet aquarium in England, see Blue Planet Aquarium.
National Aquarium Denmark, Den Blå Planet
Date opened 1939 (aquarium in Charlottenlund).
2013 (aquarium in Kastrup).[1]
Location Kastrup, Copenhagen, Denmark[2]
Coordinates 55°38′17″N 12°39′22″E / 55.638°N 12.656°E / 55.638; 12.656Coordinates: 55°38′17″N 12°39′22″E / 55.638°N 12.656°E / 55.638; 12.656
Land area 12,000 m2 (130,000 sq ft)[3]
Number of animals 20,000[1]
Number of species 450[1]
Volume of largest tank 4,000,000 l (880,000 imp gal; 1,100,000 US gal)[1]
Total volume of tanks 7,000,000 l (1,500,000 imp gal; 1,800,000 US gal)[1]
Website denblaaplanet.dk/en

National Aquarium Denmark, Den Blå Planet (Danish: Den Blå Planet, Danmarks Akvarium) is a public aquarium in Denmark. The original aquarium was located in Charlottenlund, but this facility closed in 2012[1] and most of the animal collection was relocated to the new and much larger aquarium Den Blå Planet (lit.: The Blue Planet) in Kastrup, a suburb of Copenhagen.[1] The National Aquarium Denmark, Den Blå Planet opened to the public in March 2013 and is the largest aquarium in Northern Europe.

The main purpose of the aquarium is to disseminate marine information, help science projects, and help improve educational institutions.

The former aquarium

Denmark's Aquarium in Charlottenlund started construction in 1937 and was opened in 1939. In 1974, this aquarium was expanded to feature five large landscape aquaria and a biological museum with theme-based exhibits and aquariums. In 1990, the facility was further expanded by a new front hall, café, improved toilet facilities and a schooler service. In the final years before the closure of the aquarium in Charlottenlund, it had about 1,000,000 litres (220,000 imp gal; 260,000 US gal) of water in about 70 aquarium tanks.[4]

New aquarium

Den Blå Planet opened in 2013 in Kastrup, a suburb of Copenhagen.[1] It resembles a whirlpool when seen from above. It often is, being close to the Copenhagen Airport. It was designed by Danish architects 3XN.[2][5] To reduce energy consumption the building is equipped with cooling units using seawater from Øresund and double glazing.[6] It covers a total of 12,000 m2 (130,000 sq ft), including the 10,000 m2 (110,000 sq ft) building and 2,000 m2 (22,000 sq ft) outdoors (excluding parking spaces).[3]

In the first year of existence, the aquarium received approximately 1.3 million visitors – twice as many as expected. As a consequence of this extra wear, as well as a wish of improving public education, 12.5 million DKK (approx. 2.3 million US$; 1.7 million €) were used for changes and renovations of the aquarium.[7][8]

The Blue Planet contains about 7,000,000 litres (1,500,000 imp gal; 1,800,000 US gal) of water[1] divided into 53 exhibits.[9] There are five main sections:[10]

The Rainforest
The rainforest section is home to arowanas, pacus, freshwater stingrays, large catfish, boa constrictors, golden conure and more.[9][10][11] This section also has an aquarium with a big school–about 3,000–of piranhas.[6] Near the rainforest is the smaller grotto section, with aquaria for cave tetra, various electric fish (electric eel and elephantfish) and other fish found in dark freshwater habitats.[10]
Hammerhead shark and shark tunnel in the Ocean Tank
The African Great Lakes
Exhibits for Lake Malawi, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Victoria. Primarily aimed at cichlids, but also home to other fish such as Nile perch (highly predatory and therefore separated from the Victoria cichlids by acrylic glass), and the section above the aquaria are home to dwarf crocodiles, village weaver birds, and other small animals.[9][10]
Evolution and adaption
Aimed at fish evolution and adaption, and contains a mangrove aquarium with four-eyed fish, archerfish, mudskippers and alike, as well as aquaria for Apalachicola snapping turtle and primitive fish such as bichir, gar and lungfish.[10][12] This includes the oldest fish in the aquarium, an Australian lungfish that arrived at Denmark's Aquarium in Charlottenlund in 1967 when already a young adult (its full age is unknown).[13]
Cold Water
Primarily home to native Danish species from fresh- and saltwater. Among others, it includes a touch pool, and a large North Atlantic aquarium with a 15 m (49 ft) tall seabird cliff, which is home to cod, wolffish, halibut, puffin and other species.[10][14] Non-native species in or near the Cold Water section are giant spider crab, giant Pacific octopus, sea anemones and more.[15][16] This section also housed California sea lions for a period (their previous home, Bergen Aquarium in Norway was being renovated). In early 2014 they were moved to a permanent home at La Palmyre Zoo, France.[17] Following modifications, a pair of sea otters moved into the former sea lion exhibit in October 2014, making the aquarium one of only two places where this species can be seen Europe (the other is Lisbon Oceanarium, Portugal).[18][19]
The Warm Ocean
This section contains the largest aquarium in Blue Planet, the 4,000,000-litre (880,000 imp gal; 1,100,000 US gal) Ocean tank.[1] It is home to sharks (zebra shark, blacktip reef shark, wobbegongs and young scalloped hammerheads), stingrays, eagle rays, guitarfish, moray eels, golden trevallies, groupers and more that can be seen through the 16 by 8 m (52 by 26 ft) main window, which is 45 cm (18 in) thick. There is also a 16 m (52 ft) long shark tunnel.[20][21][22] Opposite the Ocean Tank is the 16 m (52 ft) long coral reef with living corals and reef fish.[23] There are also various smaller aquaria with species such as shrimpfish, weedy seadragon, seahorses, a Mediterranean aquarium,[10] and the highly venomous stonefish, lionfish and olive sea snake.[24][25]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 The Copenhagen Post (10 August 2012). Copenhagen’s grand old aquarium to ’sleep with the fishes'. at the Wayback Machine (archived May 3, 2013)
  2. 1 2 "Designing The Blue Planet". World Architecture News. Retrieved 2011-12-14.
  3. 1 2 (Danish) Blå Planet: Gå på opdagelse på Den Blå Planet. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  4. ↑ "Denmark's Aquarium". danmarksakvarium.dk. Denmark's Aquarium. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  5. ↑ "Rejsegilde på den Blå Planet". MT Højgaard. Retrieved 2011-12-14.
  6. 1 2 CopenhagenCard: Den Blå Planet - Danmarks Akvarium. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  7. ↑ (Danish) Politiken (21 March 2014): Publikumssuccesen Den Blå Planet »skifter det hele ud«. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  8. ↑ (Danish) Politiken (25 March 2014): Design-direktør: Den Blå Planet er slidt ned af succes. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  9. 1 2 3 (Danish) Bygningsfonden: Fakta-Dyr på Den Blå Planet, Danmarks Akvarium. Retrieved 25 March 2014
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (Danish) Gejrfuglen: Anmeldelse: Den Blå Planet. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  11. ↑ (Danish) Blå Planet: Regnskoven. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  12. ↑ (Danish) Blå Planet: Alligatorskildpadden på Den Blå Planet er en ny art . Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  13. ↑ (Danish) Blå Planet: Store danskere – den australske lungefisk. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  14. ↑ (Danish) Berlingske (4 November 2013): Anmeldelse: Den Blå Planet. Retrieved 25 March 2014
  15. ↑ (Danish) Blå Planet: Kæmpekrabber slår kløerne i Den Blå Planet. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  16. ↑ (Danish) Blå Planet: Det kolde vand. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  17. ↑ (Danish) Blå Planet: Søløverne flytter til Frankrig. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  18. ↑ (Danish) Berlingske (1 October 2014). Her er de nye beboere på Den Blå Planet. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  19. ↑ (Danish) Blå Planet: Havoddere på Den Blå Planet. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  20. ↑ (Danish) Blå Planet: Oceanet. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  21. ↑ (Danish) Videnskab.dk (4 August 2012): Danmarks Akvarium i anderledes flytteforberedelser. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  22. ↑ (Danish) Politiken (21 March 2013): Intet gik i fisk, da den blå dronning åbnede Den Blå Planet. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  23. ↑ (Danish) Blå Planet: Koralrevet. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  24. ↑ (Danish) Blå Planet: Ekstremt giftige havslanger indtager Den Blå Planet. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  25. ↑ (Danish) DR (4 July 2014): Giftige og livsfarlige havslanger indtager Den Blå Planet. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
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