The Deep is an aquarium along the marina in Hull, and is one of the most impressive buildings on the Hull skyline; the main building is built to resemble the keel of a giant ship, with a glass viewing window overlooking the River Humber. The display starts near the top of the building, which you reach either via a lift or a very long set of stairs.
The first animal display in the Deep is 'Visions of the Ocean', a single small tank that comes up straight after the entrance turnstiles. This aquarium houses a variety of smaller reef creatures, including a shoal of bangaii cardinals, razorfish, an unidentified pufferfish and a red-knobbed starfish.
Following on from this are mostly interpretative displays, starting with an introductory short film display with a commentary about the oceans. Then, there is a large interactive map showing the geography of the oceans, such as the deepest points. Then there is the 'Evolution of the Oceans' display- this has a fossil wall showing a timeline of the oceans featuring creatures such as mosasaurs, dunkleosteus, xiphacantis, anomalocaris and zygorhiza as well as individual feature displays for species such as icthyosaurus, archelon and megaladon. A display that normally houses moon jellyfish was empty for maintenance. The final section of the 'Evolution of the Oceans' is a pair of displays based on a mangrove swamp. The first has a model of a Tiktaalik, a prehistoric fish/amphibian that left the water to feed. The other larger display has fake mangrove trees and a large number of West African mudskippers, which have also adopted the terrestrial and aquatic lifestyle once employed by Tiktaalik.
The next area is the 'Lagoon of Light' and 'Coral Realm' which are in fact both the same enclosure. The first section visitors encounter, the lagoon of light is much shallower and lighter, with more open areas than the coral realm. This is the main collection of tropical reef fish, housing species including bicolor parrotfish, regal tang, yellow tang, achilles tang, harlequin tuskfish, emperor angelfish, striped surgeonfish, bicolor angelfish, cleaner wrasse, whitetail damselfish, foxface, long-horned cowfish, a large species of hermit crab, bluespotted ribbontail ray, epaulette shark and brownbanded bamboo shark. Also in this section is a smaller tank housing maroon clownfish, purple tang and further yellow tang. The walkway then curves round and shows visitors into the coral realm, a far deeper section where the reef fish can also explore.
The next area is the 'Endless Ocean', based upon a tropical open ocean that houses numerous species that all live together in a huge tank that is over ten metres deep. This tank can be viewed from several different areas, including from inside a cave. The species living in here that were present on my visit included white-tipped reef, grey reef, nurse and zebra shark, green sawfish, Southern stingray, leopard whipray, humphead wrasse, horse-eye jack, lookdown, black-spotted sweetlips, golden trevally, blue-striped snapper, green moray eel and cleaner wrasse. This is one of my favourite single displays in any aquarium collections I have visited before.
What was originally to be a temporary display but now is seemingly permanent, is 'Slime!' This small area houses species that rely upon slime for their survivial, and the species present in here are: common clownfish, sea apple, spotted garden eel, East African giant land snail, tiger slug, Eschmeyer's scorpionfish, green-and-black poison-dart frogs and a single blue poison-dart frog.
Since my last visit, the next main display has changed. A large open area has become a 3D cinema about sharks, and a display known as 'Northern Seas' that housed local British species has now become a permanent Amazon display that houses red-tailed, tiger shovelnose and jigsaw catfish, silver arowana, black pacu, motoro stingray and two species of freshwater turtle (I only saw a single Geoffroy's side-necked turtle, but apparently there is also a pair of yellow-spotted Amazon turtles). This tank is open and roomy, and allows for plenty of space for the fish to swim.
The 'Twilight Zone' has changed significantly since my previous visit, with many species having left or gone off display. Upon entering there is a short film that I chose to skip, and then you enter a large room where the tanks are mostly darkened to allow visitors to see the animals more active. The first tank houses emperor nautilus, the next which normally houses North Pacific giant octopus and Pacific sun stars was empty and the third holds Norway lobster, spot shrimp and longspine snipefish. Then there is a series of tanks for moon jellyfish, and opposite this is a larger tank holding the former denizens of the 'Northern Seas'. These include pollack, Atlantic cod, ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, bullhuss and thick-lipped grey mullet, along with the spotted ratfish that formerly inhabited this tank. The next aquarium has strips of cloth covering it, and you have to stick your head behind it to see the species in here. In the near-total darkness live splitfin flashlightfish and pineconefish. The next tank houses a common lobster and the final aquarium is home to fish-eating anenome, Pacific sun stars, rockfish and wolf-eels. On leaving here, you reach the area you started at, and can have the chance to visit the cafe and have a meal or a drink before continuing.
'Ice World' is the smallest of the zones, being made up by a single corridor and only one aquarium that houses a swarm of glass shrimp. These crustaceans show the importance that both they and the similar krill have in the polar oceans. An interesting part of this display are the 'ice walls' that are both literally made of ice- these also have films beamed onto them of polar species like penguins and leopard seals.
A play area follows, but fortunately it is hidden away and not very obtrusive, and visitors can head down to the final area, known as 'Deep Blue 1'. This is a research area, and formerly housed interactive games about the oceans but now has been renovated into a fantastic series of enclosures based upon the world's rivers. They all house smaller species from river areas from places as diverse as the Amazon, the Mekong and water bodies from Mexico and southern Arizona. The species living here are as follows: leaf-cutting ant, emerald tree boa, blue poison-dart frog, Surinam toad, South American giant fishing spider, red-bellied piranha, Amazon milk frog, sunburst diving beetle, axolotl, Potosi pupfish as well as two currently empty aquariums awaiting new residents. This area then goes into an underwater viewing tunnel at the bottom of the Endless Ocean tank, extends around to a final area based upon the park's conservation programmes and also houses an aquarium for upside-down jellyfish before finally allowing visitors to choose to either go up in a lift or flights of stairs, both with the opportunity to look into the Endless Oceans tank.
The gift shop (known as the Deepartment Store) also has a couple of aquaria. The first is a circular kelp forest aquarium with sea urchins, anenomes, shiner perch and painted greenling while the other is a large Amazon aquarium housing smaller freshwater species, namely cardinal tetra, angelfish, two species of South American cihlid, silver hatchetfish and marbled hatchetfish.
Since my previous visit, many interesting species have either gone off display or left the collection. These include the bonnethead sharks, sand tiger sharks, Pacific hagfish, North Pacific giant octopus, bird wrasse, Japanese giant spider crab, giant isopod and there is no sign of the spotted wobbegong or lion's mane jellyfish either.
All inall, this is my favourite aquarium I have visited with a great diversity of species, brilliant education facilities (having enormous indoor research areas used by the local university), excellent signage and great interactive facilities. On my visit, my personal favourite species were the spotted garden eels, sunburst diving beetles, green sawfish, emerald tree boa and South American fishing spiders.
The first animal display in the Deep is 'Visions of the Ocean', a single small tank that comes up straight after the entrance turnstiles. This aquarium houses a variety of smaller reef creatures, including a shoal of bangaii cardinals, razorfish, an unidentified pufferfish and a red-knobbed starfish.
Following on from this are mostly interpretative displays, starting with an introductory short film display with a commentary about the oceans. Then, there is a large interactive map showing the geography of the oceans, such as the deepest points. Then there is the 'Evolution of the Oceans' display- this has a fossil wall showing a timeline of the oceans featuring creatures such as mosasaurs, dunkleosteus, xiphacantis, anomalocaris and zygorhiza as well as individual feature displays for species such as icthyosaurus, archelon and megaladon. A display that normally houses moon jellyfish was empty for maintenance. The final section of the 'Evolution of the Oceans' is a pair of displays based on a mangrove swamp. The first has a model of a Tiktaalik, a prehistoric fish/amphibian that left the water to feed. The other larger display has fake mangrove trees and a large number of West African mudskippers, which have also adopted the terrestrial and aquatic lifestyle once employed by Tiktaalik.
The next area is the 'Lagoon of Light' and 'Coral Realm' which are in fact both the same enclosure. The first section visitors encounter, the lagoon of light is much shallower and lighter, with more open areas than the coral realm. This is the main collection of tropical reef fish, housing species including bicolor parrotfish, regal tang, yellow tang, achilles tang, harlequin tuskfish, emperor angelfish, striped surgeonfish, bicolor angelfish, cleaner wrasse, whitetail damselfish, foxface, long-horned cowfish, a large species of hermit crab, bluespotted ribbontail ray, epaulette shark and brownbanded bamboo shark. Also in this section is a smaller tank housing maroon clownfish, purple tang and further yellow tang. The walkway then curves round and shows visitors into the coral realm, a far deeper section where the reef fish can also explore.
The next area is the 'Endless Ocean', based upon a tropical open ocean that houses numerous species that all live together in a huge tank that is over ten metres deep. This tank can be viewed from several different areas, including from inside a cave. The species living in here that were present on my visit included white-tipped reef, grey reef, nurse and zebra shark, green sawfish, Southern stingray, leopard whipray, humphead wrasse, horse-eye jack, lookdown, black-spotted sweetlips, golden trevally, blue-striped snapper, green moray eel and cleaner wrasse. This is one of my favourite single displays in any aquarium collections I have visited before.
What was originally to be a temporary display but now is seemingly permanent, is 'Slime!' This small area houses species that rely upon slime for their survivial, and the species present in here are: common clownfish, sea apple, spotted garden eel, East African giant land snail, tiger slug, Eschmeyer's scorpionfish, green-and-black poison-dart frogs and a single blue poison-dart frog.
Since my last visit, the next main display has changed. A large open area has become a 3D cinema about sharks, and a display known as 'Northern Seas' that housed local British species has now become a permanent Amazon display that houses red-tailed, tiger shovelnose and jigsaw catfish, silver arowana, black pacu, motoro stingray and two species of freshwater turtle (I only saw a single Geoffroy's side-necked turtle, but apparently there is also a pair of yellow-spotted Amazon turtles). This tank is open and roomy, and allows for plenty of space for the fish to swim.
The 'Twilight Zone' has changed significantly since my previous visit, with many species having left or gone off display. Upon entering there is a short film that I chose to skip, and then you enter a large room where the tanks are mostly darkened to allow visitors to see the animals more active. The first tank houses emperor nautilus, the next which normally houses North Pacific giant octopus and Pacific sun stars was empty and the third holds Norway lobster, spot shrimp and longspine snipefish. Then there is a series of tanks for moon jellyfish, and opposite this is a larger tank holding the former denizens of the 'Northern Seas'. These include pollack, Atlantic cod, ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, bullhuss and thick-lipped grey mullet, along with the spotted ratfish that formerly inhabited this tank. The next aquarium has strips of cloth covering it, and you have to stick your head behind it to see the species in here. In the near-total darkness live splitfin flashlightfish and pineconefish. The next tank houses a common lobster and the final aquarium is home to fish-eating anenome, Pacific sun stars, rockfish and wolf-eels. On leaving here, you reach the area you started at, and can have the chance to visit the cafe and have a meal or a drink before continuing.
'Ice World' is the smallest of the zones, being made up by a single corridor and only one aquarium that houses a swarm of glass shrimp. These crustaceans show the importance that both they and the similar krill have in the polar oceans. An interesting part of this display are the 'ice walls' that are both literally made of ice- these also have films beamed onto them of polar species like penguins and leopard seals.
A play area follows, but fortunately it is hidden away and not very obtrusive, and visitors can head down to the final area, known as 'Deep Blue 1'. This is a research area, and formerly housed interactive games about the oceans but now has been renovated into a fantastic series of enclosures based upon the world's rivers. They all house smaller species from river areas from places as diverse as the Amazon, the Mekong and water bodies from Mexico and southern Arizona. The species living here are as follows: leaf-cutting ant, emerald tree boa, blue poison-dart frog, Surinam toad, South American giant fishing spider, red-bellied piranha, Amazon milk frog, sunburst diving beetle, axolotl, Potosi pupfish as well as two currently empty aquariums awaiting new residents. This area then goes into an underwater viewing tunnel at the bottom of the Endless Ocean tank, extends around to a final area based upon the park's conservation programmes and also houses an aquarium for upside-down jellyfish before finally allowing visitors to choose to either go up in a lift or flights of stairs, both with the opportunity to look into the Endless Oceans tank.
The gift shop (known as the Deepartment Store) also has a couple of aquaria. The first is a circular kelp forest aquarium with sea urchins, anenomes, shiner perch and painted greenling while the other is a large Amazon aquarium housing smaller freshwater species, namely cardinal tetra, angelfish, two species of South American cihlid, silver hatchetfish and marbled hatchetfish.
Since my previous visit, many interesting species have either gone off display or left the collection. These include the bonnethead sharks, sand tiger sharks, Pacific hagfish, North Pacific giant octopus, bird wrasse, Japanese giant spider crab, giant isopod and there is no sign of the spotted wobbegong or lion's mane jellyfish either.
All inall, this is my favourite aquarium I have visited with a great diversity of species, brilliant education facilities (having enormous indoor research areas used by the local university), excellent signage and great interactive facilities. On my visit, my personal favourite species were the spotted garden eels, sunburst diving beetles, green sawfish, emerald tree boa and South American fishing spiders.
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. But I didn't do a double because I'd seen chimaeras before at Blackpool Sea Life Centre (I don't know if they still have them).