SEA LIFE London Aquarium London Aquarium

SwampDonkey said:
Bumping an old thread, but I am heading to London in a few weeks. I have SeaLife as a stop, but some of the recent reviews on Google look pretty rough. Is it worth the stop and time? I have been to the SeaLife in Orlando and enjoyed it for what it is.
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I actually went to SeaLife London later last year for the first time in probably over twenty years, and, personally speaking, I didn't really enjoy it all that much. Even with stopping to look at and try and film everything there, it only took me and my brother just over an hour to walk through the entire place.

I don't know if it was just a thing on my visit, but there were some bizarre omissions for an aquarium when we went - for example, I did not see, nor do I remember seeing any signage, for any species of crabs or lobsters. No octopus either, although I think their tanks may have been being renovated at the time.

If I had half a day to kill in London, I'd much sooner go to the Natural History Museum than Sealife, that's for sure.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
I actually went to SeaLife London later last year for the first time in probably over twenty years, and, personally speaking, I didn't really enjoy it all that much. Even with stopping to look at and try and film everything there, it only took me and my brother just over an hour to walk through the entire place.

I don't know if it was just a thing on my visit, but there were some bizarre omissions for an aquarium when we went - for example, I did not see, nor do I remember seeing any signage, for any species of crabs or lobsters. No octopus either, although I think their tanks may have been being renovated at the time.

If I had half a day to kill in London, I'd much sooner go to the Natural History Museum than Sealife, that's for sure.
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I don't recall their ever being lobsters, but a shame if there are no longer crabs, as until recently there were a few in the Rockpool, opposite the main tunnel tank. At one point there were some spectacularly large Japanese Spider Crabs in the final room, a temporary exhibition space of sorts, but now it just holds jellyfish. It does feel as though collection-wise this is a place that is steadily declining, and barring the changes to the aforementioned final room there hasn't been a major new exhibit that I can recall in decades, where other Sea Life centres throughout the nation seem to be expanding. My only guess as to why this is would be that its location underneath the former London County Hall offers no space for expansion, which the other centres, which should in theory be a lower priority due to their smaller audience, have plenty of.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
I actually went to SeaLife London later last year for the first time in probably over twenty years, and, personally speaking, I didn't really enjoy it all that much. Even with stopping to look at and try and film everything there, it only took me and my brother just over an hour to walk through the entire place.

I don't know if it was just a thing on my visit, but there were some bizarre omissions for an aquarium when we went - for example, I did not see, nor do I remember seeing any signage, for any species of crabs or lobsters. No octopus either, although I think their tanks may have been being renovated at the time.

If I had half a day to kill in London, I'd much sooner go to the Natural History Museum than Sealife, that's for sure.
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Thanks for the tips! Yeah, after talking it over with my wife this weekend we may cut SeaLife out of the trip since they don't have any animals or exhibits of note. Also on the plans already are the Natural History Museum, British Museum, London Zoo, and a load of other London area historical sights and museums. We are there 8 days, so SeaLife may make it back if we can squeeze it in, but I won't sweat it if we miss it this time.
 
SwampDonkey said:
Thanks for the tips! Yeah, after talking it over with my wife this weekend we may cut SeaLife out of the trip since they don't have any animals or exhibits of note. Also on the plans already are the Natural History Museum, British Museum, London Zoo, and a load of other London area historical sights and museums. We are there 8 days, so SeaLife may make it back if we can squeeze it in, but I won't sweat it if we miss it this time.
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If you do want to go to an aquarium, the Horniman Museum has a lovely little aquarium in their basement. It's a great museum, quite easy to get to and you can always do some dinosaur spotting at Crystal Park before/after.

I've only visited Sea Life once, just before the Olympics (christ was that seriously 12 years ago?). I'd like to say I remember xyz but to be honest I don't remember it at all, except for the indoor penguin exhibit and some wall art of a sperm whale. If it wasn't so expensive I'd happily visit again if just to get a fairer view of it but it is a bit of a shame London now lacks a true aquarium, let alone one that competes with those on the continent like Berlin or Vienna.
 
cerperal said:
If you do want to go to an aquarium, the Horniman Museum has a lovely little aquarium in their basement. It's a great museum, quite easy to get to and you can always do some dinosaur spotting at Crystal Park before/after.

I've only visited Sea Life once, just before the Olympics (christ was that seriously 12 years ago?). I'd like to say I remember xyz but to be honest I don't remember it at all, except for the indoor penguin exhibit and some wall art of a sperm whale. If it wasn't so expensive I'd happily visit again if just to get a fairer view of it but it is a bit of a shame London now lacks a true aquarium, let alone one that competes with those on the continent like Berlin or Vienna.
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As a Horniman local, I cannot recommend the museum and its aquarium enough and am glad to see others who agree , although it is worth saying that, when you say little, you mean it fully, as it is just 7 rooms each with only one or two major tanks, and a few smaller ones on the side, with roughly 50 species or so at the moment. There are, however, some lovely rarities such as Whitespotted Surgeonfish, River Hatchetfish and Spotted Headstander, although your odds of seeing the latter are slim. Aside from the aquarium, the new dinosaur exhibition is great, the gardens with their butterfly house are lovely and the historic natural history gallery with its charmingly old-fashioned specimens and outdated signs, is very good fun.
 
cerperal said:
If you do want to go to an aquarium, the Horniman Museum has a lovely little aquarium in their basement. It's a great museum, quite easy to get to and you can always do some dinosaur spotting at Crystal Park before/after.

I've only visited Sea Life once, just before the Olympics (christ was that seriously 12 years ago?). I'd like to say I remember xyz but to be honest I don't remember it at all, except for the indoor penguin exhibit and some wall art of a sperm whale. If it wasn't so expensive I'd happily visit again if just to get a fairer view of it but it is a bit of a shame London now lacks a true aquarium, let alone one that competes with those on the continent like Berlin or Vienna.
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Kalaw said:
As a Horniman local, I cannot recommend the museum and its aquarium enough and am glad to see others who agree , although it is worth saying that, when you say little, you mean it fully, as it is just 7 rooms each with only one or two major tanks, and a few smaller ones on the side, with roughly 50 species or so at the moment. There are, however, some lovely rarities such as Whitespotted Surgeonfish, River Hatchetfish and Spotted Headstander, although your odds of seeing the latter are slim. Aside from the aquarium, the new dinosaur exhibition is great, the gardens with their butterfly house are lovely and the historic natural history gallery with its charmingly old-fashioned specimens and outdated signs, is very good fun.
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That really does look like a really interesting museum, and the small aquarium is an added bonus for sure. Unfortunately the transit there would take about an hour each way, and I am not sure that I can budget a full 1/2 day to it - as really fun as it certainly looks. The advantage of SeaLife is the location, within walking of where we will be staying, so the budgeted time is limited to the time actually being in the place.
 
A lot of helpful information here. I really want to see the Crystal Palace dinosaurs but was concerned about what else I could fit in the area, so the Horniman museum is a great fit, although I will be visiting a few weeks later and unable to see the nature galleries unfortunately! I am hoping to do the London and Tring natural history museums though so it will all even out.

London SeaLife is low on my list but like SwampDonkey I will be staying pretty close by, so if I'm at the end of a half-day back by my hotel I may still check it out.
 
Sea Life London under fire for using ‘an online platform’ portal for record-keeping instead of providing the council with a stock list, which prevents the council from being able to provide that information to anyone interested, contra to the freedom of information laws.

How Britain’s biggest aquarium chain keeps its animal records under wraps

Article does also note that only 12 of the 284 species at Sea Life London are not least concern species. One of the least concern species is the gentloo penguins who are facing scrutiny for allegedly poor welfare (not having access to daylight or the outdoors).
 
equidae said:
Article does also note that only 12 of the 284 species at Sea Life London are not least concern species. One of the least concern species is the gentloo penguins who are facing scrutiny for allegedly poor welfare (not having access to daylight or the outdoors).
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Probably the worst penguin exhibit I’ve ever visited. How Sealife got away with it I’ll never know. They must have a top class air filtration system otherwise the stench must be unbearable!
 
It's an awful exhibit, and a sharp contrast to the one in Regents Park. To be blunt I wish ZSL would build London the aquarium it deserves and this place can shut.
 
Cat-Man said:
It's an awful exhibit, and a sharp contrast to the one in Regents Park. To be blunt I wish ZSL would build London the aquarium it deserves and this place can shut.
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To be fair the species at Regent's is a tropical penguin...
 
Cat-Man said:
It's an awful exhibit, and a sharp contrast to the one in Regents Park. To be blunt I wish ZSL would build London the aquarium it deserves and this place can shut.
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Where at Regents Park would it go though? The Biota plan died a death years ago. I agree, but I can only envisage minor aquatic exhibits incorporated into other exhibits as the only solution at London. I can’t see them starting from scratch as they’ve done with the new reptile/amphibian area sadly.
 
Panthera1981 said:
Where at Regents Park would it go though? The Biota plan died a death years ago. I agree, but I can only envisage minor aquatic exhibits incorporated into other exhibits as the only solution at London. I can’t see them starting from scratch as they’ve done with the new reptile/amphibian area sadly.
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It was only wishful thinking, but I was imagining a large off site aquarium in the vein of Biota. It shan't be happening, though!
 
If you have time during it's opening times, the Grant Museum of Zoology at UCL is an excellent place to spend an hour or so; it has a quagga skeleton and the infamous Glass Jar of Moles. Also the Petrie Museum of Egyptology nearby. They're both very close to the British Museum.
 
I agree the penguin exhibit at the aquarium is pretty poor, in general I'm not too big a fan of fully indoor penguin enclosures. When we have multiple outdoor exhibits across the country for subantarctic penguins I don't know how it can be justified to not keep them outdoors even if it's only seasonally. I haven't been to any other aquaria with penguins, how do they compare to London?
 
Fallax said:
I agree the penguin exhibit at the aquarium is pretty poor, in general I'm not too big a fan of fully indoor penguin enclosures. When we have multiple outdoor exhibits across the country for subantarctic penguins I don't know how it can be justified to not keep them outdoors even if it's only seasonally. I haven't been to any other aquaria with penguins, how do they compare to London?
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Yes the UK has a vast number of outdoor subantarctic penguin enclosure, but I'm not doing any beyond Edinburgh, Belfast and birdland and the last of them is at best now described as a dwindling population. As for purely indoor enclosure for them I'm only doing London slc, Birmingham slc and Hull the deep, now not having seen London the least said about Birmingham enclosure the better and I'm guessing the London one is very like that, purely as its a slc and they have a unique style all of their own, The Deep for a purely indoor enclosure whilst not the biggest I actually quite like, and is on a level with purely indoor enclosure I've seen in Europe despite its small size.
 
Laboratory 7 said:
Yes the UK has a vast number of outdoor subantarctic penguin enclosure, but I'm not doing any beyond Edinburgh, Belfast and birdland and the last of them is at best now described as a dwindling population. As for purely indoor enclosure for them I'm only doing London slc, Birmingham slc and Hull the deep, now not having seen London the least said about Birmingham enclosure the better and I'm guessing the London one is very like that, purely as its a slc and they have a unique style all of their own, The Deep for a purely indoor enclosure whilst not the biggest I actually quite like, and is on a level with purely indoor enclosure I've seen in Europe despite its small size.
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Theres a few crested species kept outside too, Whipsnade has rockhoppers and Folly Farm has macaronis, there might be one or two I'm missing there as well.
 
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