Zoo Rating: Bournemouth Oceanium

Bournemouth Oceanarium

Bournemouth, United Kingdom

 

About the Zoo

The Bournemouth Oceanarium is an aquarium located right next to the pier of Bournemouth, England. The Oceanarium contains over 500,000 liters of water housing over 300 species of animals. Although having a ground and a first floor, it isn’t too big.

1. Species

Since it’s completely an indoors, the Oceanarium doesn’t contain any large species; the largest being their sharks, moray eels and sea turtles. They have some interesting species of certain fish and a wide variety of them, but if you’re not really into fish they probably won’t really interest you. Although to make it some more interesting visitors like this they also house otters and some reptiles.

 Score: 7

2. Animal Welfare

The tanks are of a fine size, not being too large but big enough for the fish it houses. Some artificial coral patches are struggling with brown aquarium algae, but except for displaying the coral colors a bit dull this doesn’t have much influence on the health of the animals.

 Score: 7

3. Construction

The route through the aquarium first leads you upstairs, to the river habitats. With the rivers you will go down to the shore. Then you will go through the reefs leading you to the Abyss, which will bring you to the coast again. It’s not a very long journey but it really has been thought through.

 Score: 7.5

4. Accommodations

Being an indoor aquarium there isn’t much need for much facilities. The entrance contains an medium-sized restaurant and a gift shop; just enough for your visit.

 Score: 6.5

5. Education

At the smaller tanks you will only find signs telling you about the fish species living in it. But having 9 feeding/talk presentations per day you will sure get some information. An employee will tell you everything about their otters, sharks, piranhas, octopus and much more. This of course depends on which feeding presentation you visit. But since they are all at different times you won’t have to miss any of them.

 Score: 8

6. Interaction

You wouldn’t expect much interaction in an aquarium but in this one there certainly is. You can face your fears and hold one of their Royal Pythons or pet one of their other reptiles. If you want something else you can jump into their virtual Dive Cage which gives you a 270-degree continuous view of the ocean. The large touch screens bring you up close with various animals such as a Great White Shark or a Blue Whale. While observing them you can learn anything about their feeding habits and much more. If this all seems too thrilling for you, you can visit their Puffer fish tank and interact with them since these are very curious fish, unlike any other fish you saw before.

 Score:8

Total Score: 7.3

The Bournemouth Aquarium is a place you should really consider visiting when you are in that area. If you’re not a real fish lover you’ll probably only visit once, but if you are you may want to come back when you’re near Bournemouth again. Since it is only an aquarium it will not take much time to visit but you will sure enjoy yourself when you are inside; especially when you visit a presentation.

Kevin, 07/05/14