Melbourne Aquarium Melbourne Aquarium

@NZ Jeremy: I enjoyed the link that you posted, especially the "double dipper" diagram. It is obvious that more and more top-notch aquariums worldwide have been utilizing some kind of tunnel system for their main tanks. Weren't you the one that posted on here a few months ago about how the overhead, wrap-around acrylic tunnel tanks were actually first developed in New Zealand?
 
Off topic aquarium points...

Bent acrylic was first used at Kelly Tarlton's in NZ (to the best of my knowledge), prior to this acrylic tunnels with three straight sides had been utilised... Bent acrylic tunnels actually are both the best and worst way to view aquatic life; the effect of being under the water gives many the feeling of diving (the best) and the effect of refraction (a problem whenever looking through "glass" into water) causes the fish to appear in a different position (the worst view) as shown by this diagram:

Image:Pencil in a bowl of water.png - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

While the curve in the acrylic acts as a lens making the fish appear 2/3 to 3/4 their actual size (another negative) as demonstrated by the fourth lens from the left here:

Image:Lens2a.png - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A perfect tank would have innovations such as the double dipper tank etc., as previously linked, with tunnels of as large diameter as possible and many flat vertical sheets looking in to give more undistorted views...

This tunnel was constructed in 2002:

Napier Aquarium - Photo Gallery

It has a relatively small distortion of 3/4 size representation, the seals and joins are quite seamless and the acrylic is of obviously high quality (manufactured in Whangerei, NZ), this expansion to this aquarium (Napier Aquarium in 2002 cost NZD $8 million), the main oceanarium also has a large sheet giving "unobstructed views":

Napier Aquarium - Photo Gallery

When this is compared with a similar (tunnel) shot of an aquarium built in 1985:

Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World - Photo Gallery

One can see the acrylic in the older aquarium has a "wave" in it, this is partly because the creators saved money by flying flat sheets in from Germany and bending themselves in a large home made oven (a very crude process), this aquarium cost NZD (1985) $2 million. Additionally the joins are beginning to "bubble" in the mid sheet joins partly I suspect because of the crude bending method and also the pressure and corrosiveness of salt water but technically acrylic should last unchanged (if correctly manufactured and cared for) for 100+ years...

These photos show the different distortions in the tunnels:

2002 (built) aquarium (photo through acrylic):

Napier Aquarium - Photo Gallery

1985 (built) aquarium (photo through acrylic):

Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World - Photo Gallery

Both shots are with the flash on with the first and newer aquarium giving much more clarity in the picture...

Anyway all this shows is the improvements that there have been in the last 23 years and due to the fact acrylic is a type of plastic its uses are basically limited by the designers mind...

General notes:

Aquariums are different from zoos in that many can turn quite a healthy profit (at least in Asia and Australasia)...

Acrylic is under utilised at zoo’s, IMO, many exhibits could be better designed for the animals using it, for example primate exhibits with 4 or 5 large trees in a huge cage could use a 360 degree acrylic tunnel passing through the middle at many metres off the ground showing the primates arboreal life...

Zoo’s have begun creating exhibits with the natural environments in mind, in the case of aquatic life, apart from places to hide, the water is much more important and new filter and life support systems are being developed (mainly due to large inland salt water aquariums) to much more closely replicate the fish’s natural water (I’ve visited one in Leigh, NZ) which actually produces plankton blooms:

Aquarium studies

Anyway back on topic this is why I enjoyed the Melbourne aquarium, I find the different designs (such as the amazing fish bowl tank) just as intriguing as the new species I saw, I enjoy how the various layouts are set out as hopefully when I finish my studies I can join one the NZ aquarium firms:

MJ Murphy Ltd > Home

http://www.marinescape.co.nz/wb_pg/cont_fla.html

Or Australian:

Aquatic Environmental Systems

Or Singaporean:

Nature Exhibit Design and Consultancy - Green Chapter

If you’re still reading cheers..!
 
Last edited:
I do agree, that Melbourne's Aquarium isn't so great,and i'm pretty sure any major efforts for improvement. The species aren't wow as i agree with most of you and I think the the most popular attraction, would be the ride at the end. I agree with Aw101, i think Melbourne should get a marine mammal species, but if they are going to give the effort they have given with the other marine life, there really is no point at all.
Popularity lies with young kids, again, since they are the future crowds will travel to the aquarium because of fanatastic experinces, in the future i can easily see Melbourne Aquarium crumble, I hate to admit it but Sydney you beat us in Main zoo and Aquarium.
 
@NZ Jeremy: thanks for all of the aquarium information, as you certainly posted a lot of links! It's interesting in both zoo and aquarium exhibit design how things have progressed at a speedy rate in the past 20 or even 30 years. Gorillas were kept in concrete cages until about 1979 (Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle is often credited as the world's first naturalistic gorilla exhibit) and now there are tropical jungles acres in size for many of the world's gorilla families. The same goes for aquariums, as tunnels and various other innovative tanks have been popping up with regularity in many aquariums worldwide.
 
How many aquariums keep grey nurse sharks 'cos i think this are a pretty wow species and i was excited when i first saw them.
 
I have the feeling that the Melbourne Aquarium is targeting families with children and that is why their exhibits are so average, whereas the Sydney Aquarium aims to be a world class facility to impress the millions of tourists who visit the harbor...
 
Keep in mind they are both owned by 'for profit' businesses, so making as much money as possible is their number one goal...
 
PAT said:
How many aquariums keep grey nurse sharks 'cos i think this are a pretty wow species and i was excited when i first saw them.
Click to expand...

I think its limited to Australia... Melbourne definitely, Mooloolaba I'm pretty sure, can't remember on Sydney and I don't know about Perth Aquarium, Manly and Reef HQ... Does Darwin still have that little aquarium with a (tiny) shark tunnel..?

Can't anyone shed some light on these sharks..?

Sorry for the double post, connection hiccups...
 
I went to Sydney two years ago so my memory isn't extremly sharp but i'm pretty sure remembering that there were Nurse Sharks in Sydney.
 
Sydney Aquarium does exhibit nurse sharks, but in the open ocean exhibit which is an underwater walk through tunnel..in their Great Barrier Reef Oceanarium they have the rest of their sharks
 
Hmmm... I'm having connection problems lately but when I get a chance I'll search these aquariums sites to see if we can get an answer...
 
a quick search on ISIS revealed around sixty grey nurse sharks (sand tigers) are kept in aquariums.
 
The grey nurse sharks in captivity are something which has always intrigued me. If this species is as critically endangered as some groups claim (and others dispute) isn't keeping them in aquariums damaging their recovery, or are they breeding them in some aquariums. They seem to be the most popular aquarium large shark, probably because of their toothy appearance and safety to put divers in with.
 
I agree with Monty the grey nurse shark has a beautiful fierce apperance but is not as lethal as some other species of shark, they also look very magnificent when they are up close,
 
Monty said:
The grey nurse sharks in captivity are something which has always intrigued me. If this species is as critically endangered as some groups claim (and others dispute) isn't keeping them in aquariums damaging their recovery, or are they breeding them in some aquariums. They seem to be the most popular aquarium large shark, probably because of their toothy appearance and safety to put divers in with.
Click to expand...

There has been a successful breeding at an aquarium in Australia, I want to say Manly but can't recall exactly... I can state that it has happened...

I'll research all this when my connection difficulties end (the IT guy is coming next week)...
 
grey nurse sharks are the same species as sand tiger sharks and ragged-tooth sharks (the South African name). They have been bred in Aquariums but it is not a regular occurrance. They are slow-growing and long-lived, and breeding is very slow because they have only two pups per year (due to cannibalism by the pups within each of the two uteri). They are very endangered (status varies across their very wide range), primarily through sport-hunting and collection for Aquariums. Their fearsome appearance makes them attractive targets for "brave" spear-fishermen, and likewise makes them prime display items in Aquariums. When the Blue Planet Aquarium in Chester (UK) opened it claimed to have the world's largest collection of grey nurses, which is sort of akin to proudly proclaiming yourself to display the world's largest collection of wild-caught Sumatran tigers!

With regards to Monty's question above, I personally doubt public Aquariums are helping in the species recovery at all, more that they are a drain on the wild population with little breeding taking place
 
Grey Nurse sharks are popular with public aquaria because they adapt quite well to captivity and the inevitable restrictions of shark tanks (no matter how large.)

In contrast, deep ocean sharks such as Tigers and Great Whites seem to have difficulty adapting to a restricted area and don't last too long, sometimes continuously swimming into walls. To avoid this, some U.S. aquaria have kept Tiger sharks in large radius "donut" shaped tanks so that they can swim continuously without reaching an end wall, and with a current (supplied by a jet of water) to swim against.
 
I visited the melbourne aquarium last week, and I have to agree with some of the comments, but it is not bad at all. The admittance is too high for the number of displays they have, but they do have a great collection though. King penguins, gentoo penguins, two species of eagle ray's, freshwater sharks, freshwater sawfish, whaler sharks, zebra sharks, giant stingrays, giant octopus, some amazing jellyfish, japanese spidercrabs, nuatilus, seadragons.

And they have some great exhibits; the lagoon with the plane hanging over it, the billabong, the antarctic part was not very big, but it's a nice one and the shark tank was great. It's better IMO then a tunnel just getting straight through it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top