Aquarium Finisterrae
Encyclopedia
Aquarium Finisterrae is an aquarium located in A Coruña
in Galicia, Spain
. It is an interactive center of the sciences of marine biology
, oceanography
and the sea in general. It tries to promote learning about the ocean and to teach people to be more caring toward marine life.
Created by the City of A Coruña
, it was inaugurated June 5, 1999. It is directed, like the other museums in A Coruña
by Ramón Núñez Centella, and its objective is to educate people about the sea, paying special special attention to the ecosystems of the Galician coast. Its technical director is Francisco Franco del Amo
.
It is located on the coast of A Coruña
, in the Maritime Pass, between the Casa del Hombre and the Tower of Hercules
. Its exterior pools are connected to the Atlantic Ocean
and are designed to show the tides.
Besides its pools and aquariums, it has elements of a museum and allows experiences like touching star fish and turbot
s and learning where king prawn
live.
before the aquarium's inauguration.
Between the interactive modules, there is the Charca de las caricias (Stroking pool), where visitors can touch some of the marine life. There are also modules dedicated to nautical knots, fish smells, parrot songs and the amount of water that can be soaked up by a sponge.
There are various modules that are not interactive, like the tank of jellyfish
, the small exposition of marine fossils, and the aquarium of sea horses. The most important is the circular tank at the entrance of the room, dedicated to the presentation of a particular animal. The animals presented change every so often.
The five aquariums of the greatest volume are found separated from the rest of the room by steps. Each one of them represents a different environment of the Galician coast, from the cliffs to the continental shelf
. In these, among other things are: moray
s, conger
s, lophii
, grouper
s, Scorpaena
e, and fish of San Pedro.
fish, some of which remain in the an aquarium next to la Cantina.
In July 2002 an exposition of sea horses was inaugurated. This exposition changed to the Cephalopod
s in 2004. , the room is dedicated the Fabricantes de Perlas (Producers of Pearls).
Next to the great collection of pearls, jewels and shells, the exhibition includes nine aquariums, each containing some of the principal producers of pearl
s, from oyster
s to nautilus
, all surrounded by the most common fauna
of the producers natural environment like clownfish
, sea anemone
s, and sea cucumbers. In one of the aquariums, the Galician river ecosystem is reproduced with endemic pearl-producing clam
s.
Some of the interactive modules allow one to touch mother-of-pearl and other materials and to use a lens to observe the structure of the pearl while other exhibits examine the luxurious history of pearls. There is a reproduction of the Pearl of Lao Tzu
, the largest pearl known to exist, and a collection of portraits portraying famous people like Queen Elizabeth I, Coco Chanel
, Marilyn Monroe
, Rodolfo Valentino and Audrey Hepburn
donning pearls.
's study in the Nautilus
, Sala Nautilus is an observation room immersed in a 4400000 litres (9,298,865.5 US pt) pool containing 700 fish of 34 different species: sand shark
s, amberfish, amberjack
s, yellowtail
s, grouper
s, ocean sunfish
; there are also different kinds of sharks like school shark
s, angel shark
s, spiny dogfish
, hound shark
s, nursehound
s and catshark
s as well as frequenters of the Galician coast like sea bass
, red gurnard
s, immense turbot
s, skate
s and filefish
. One of the major attractions introduced on May 24, 2006 is Gastón, a 3 m (9.8 ft), 100 kg (220.5 lb) male sand shark
(Carcharias taurus) from the Oceanopolis Aquarium in Brest, France
. With him lives a female sand shark named Hermosa
.
The inside of the Nautilus room pays homage to the book from which it originated, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
by Jules Verne
. The room is packed with posters showing various copies of the book and movie posters of several film adaptations and in different languages.
The room is also made to be a replica of the study as described in the book. A collection of objects—furniture, plates, catalogs, scientific apparatuses, paintings, engravings, sea shells, animal and mineral samples, nautical apparatuses and objects, navigational charts, and personal objects—all date to the second half of the nineteenth century and are related to the character of Jules Verne's novel.
The room also has leather-covered Chester armchairs, old maps, and period mirrors that reflect distorted images. The atmosphere is completed with a 20 minute symphony, containing several passages of organ music, specially composed by Luis Delgado
for this room.
.
From here one can access the Paraíso Marino which receives water directly from the sea and inhabited by three male seals: Altair, Gregor and Hansi. If you look to the left of the aquarium building you can see a Jardín Botánico that contains many of the species present on the Galician coast.
The Piscinarium contains six female seals: Bine, Deneb, Lara, Paula, Petra and Vega.
Finally, the Octopus' Garden contains a place to observe the behavior of octopus
es.
A Coruña
A Coruña or La Coruña is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. It is the second-largest city in the autonomous community and seventeenth overall in the country...
in Galicia, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. It is an interactive center of the sciences of marine biology
Marine biology
Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...
, oceanography
Oceanography
Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...
and the sea in general. It tries to promote learning about the ocean and to teach people to be more caring toward marine life.
Created by the City of A Coruña
A Coruña
A Coruña or La Coruña is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. It is the second-largest city in the autonomous community and seventeenth overall in the country...
, it was inaugurated June 5, 1999. It is directed, like the other museums in A Coruña
A Coruña
A Coruña or La Coruña is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. It is the second-largest city in the autonomous community and seventeenth overall in the country...
by Ramón Núñez Centella, and its objective is to educate people about the sea, paying special special attention to the ecosystems of the Galician coast. Its technical director is Francisco Franco del Amo
Francisco Franco del Amo
Francisco J. Franco del Amo is a Spanish academic and author.Franco del Amo earned his PhD in Biology at the University of Santiago de Compostela in 1990. From 1990 to 1992 he worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology...
.
It is located on the coast of A Coruña
A Coruña
A Coruña or La Coruña is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. It is the second-largest city in the autonomous community and seventeenth overall in the country...
, in the Maritime Pass, between the Casa del Hombre and the Tower of Hercules
Tower of Hercules
The Tower of Hercules is an ancient Roman lighthouse on a peninsula about from the centre of A Coruña, Galicia, in north-western Spain. Until the 20th century, the tower itself was known as the "Farum Brigantium". The Latin word farum is derived from the Greek pharos for the Lighthouse of...
. Its exterior pools are connected to the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
and are designed to show the tides.
Besides its pools and aquariums, it has elements of a museum and allows experiences like touching star fish and turbot
Turbot
The turbot is a species of flatfish in the family Scophthalmidae. It is native to marine or brackish waters of the North Atlantic, Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.-Etymology:...
s and learning where king prawn
King Prawn
King Prawn were a prominent band of the UK ska punk scene during the 1990s and early 2000s.King Prawn blended elements of punk, hardcore, metal, ska, dub, reggae, and hip hop into their music, which they dubbed wildstyle....
live.
Distribution
- Sala maremágnum: A interactive exposition room all about the Atlantic OceanAtlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. It houses more than 600 Atlantic species and also acts a ball room with a capacity of 350 people. - Sala Humboldt: A room contain expositions about many of the seas.
- Sala Nautilus: A room decorated in the style of the study of Captain NemoCaptain NemoCaptain Nemo, also known as Prince Dakkar, is a fictional character featured in Jules Verne's novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island ....
in the NautilusNautilusNautilus is the common name of marine creatures of cephalopod family Nautilidae, the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina. It comprises six living species in two genera, the type of which is the genus Nautilus...
. It is an observation room in a huge pool of 4.4 million liters, the largest in Europe, where most of the Atlantic fish on display swim. - Octopus' Garden: A room dedicated to octopusOctopusThe octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...
es. - Jardín botánico: A room containing species representative of the Galician coast.
- Piscinarium: A warm home for the two families of Atlantic seals.
- Sala Isabel Castelo: A room dedicated to the permanent exposition of nature photographs.
Sala Maremágnum
The largest of the aquariums, which holds more than 600 species, is the Atlantic Ocean exposition room. Each of the modules has a question as its title which was selected by the readers of the newspaper La Voz de GaliciaLa Voz de Galicia
La Voz de Galicia is a Spanish daily newspaper owned by the Corporación Voz de Galicia. La Voz is the most sold newspaper in Galicia and the sixth of Spain...
before the aquarium's inauguration.
Between the interactive modules, there is the Charca de las caricias (Stroking pool), where visitors can touch some of the marine life. There are also modules dedicated to nautical knots, fish smells, parrot songs and the amount of water that can be soaked up by a sponge.
There are various modules that are not interactive, like the tank of jellyfish
Jellyfish
Jellyfish are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. Medusa is another word for jellyfish, and refers to any free-swimming jellyfish stages in the phylum Cnidaria...
, the small exposition of marine fossils, and the aquarium of sea horses. The most important is the circular tank at the entrance of the room, dedicated to the presentation of a particular animal. The animals presented change every so often.
The five aquariums of the greatest volume are found separated from the rest of the room by steps. Each one of them represents a different environment of the Galician coast, from the cliffs to the continental shelf
Continental shelf
The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent and associated coastal plain. Much of the shelf was exposed during glacial periods, but is now submerged under relatively shallow seas and gulfs, and was similarly submerged during other interglacial periods. The continental margin,...
. In these, among other things are: moray
Moray
Moray is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland.- History :...
s, conger
Conger
Conger is a genus of marine congrid eels. It includes some of the largest types of eels, ranging up to 3 m in length, in the case of the European conger...
s, lophii
Lophius
Members of the genus Lophius, also sometimes called monkfish, goosefish, fishing-frogs, frog-fish, and sea-devils, are well known off the coasts of Europe generally, the grotesque shape of its body and its singular habits having attracted the attention of naturalists of all ages...
, grouper
Grouper
Groupers are fish of any of a number of genera in the subfamily Epinephelinae of the family Serranidae, in the order Perciformes.Not all serranids are called groupers; the family also includes the sea basses. The common name grouper is usually given to fish in one of two large genera: Epinephelus...
s, Scorpaena
Scorpaena
Scorpaena is a large genus of marine fish. It consists of 62 species:* Scorpaena afuerae – Peruvian scorpionfish* Scorpaena agassizii – longfin scorpionfish* Scorpaena albifimbria – coral scorpionfish...
e, and fish of San Pedro.
Sala Humboldt
The Sala Humboldt is dedicated to temporary expositions that change around every two years. The first were dedicated to CaribbeanCaribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
fish, some of which remain in the an aquarium next to la Cantina.
In July 2002 an exposition of sea horses was inaugurated. This exposition changed to the Cephalopod
Cephalopod
A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda . These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, and a set of arms or tentacles modified from the primitive molluscan foot...
s in 2004. , the room is dedicated the Fabricantes de Perlas (Producers of Pearls).
Fabricantes de Perlas: Una historia en 12 adjetivos (2006-present)
Each exhibit contains an adjective describing a different type of pearl: Natural, round, smooth, valuable, cultivated, symbolic, exotic, imitation, mythological, famous, elegant, and dangerous.Next to the great collection of pearls, jewels and shells, the exhibition includes nine aquariums, each containing some of the principal producers of pearl
Pearl
A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other...
s, from oyster
Oyster
The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
s to nautilus
Nautilus (genus)
Nautilus is a genus of cephalopods in the family Nautilidae. Species in this genus differ significantly in terms of morphology from those placed in the sister taxon Allonautilus. The oldest fossils of the genus are known from the Late Eocene Hoko River Formation, in Washington State and from...
, all surrounded by the most common fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
of the producers natural environment like clownfish
Clownfish
Clownfish or anemonefish are fishes from the subfamily Amphiprioninae in the family Pomacentridae. Twenty-eight species are recognized, one in the genus Premnas, while the remaining are in the genus Amphiprion. In the wild they all form symbiotic mutualisms with sea anemones...
, sea anemone
Sea anemone
Sea anemones are a group of water-dwelling, predatory animals of the order Actiniaria; they are named after the anemone, a terrestrial flower. Sea anemones are classified in the phylum Cnidaria, class Anthozoa, subclass Zoantharia. Anthozoa often have large polyps that allow for digestion of larger...
s, and sea cucumbers. In one of the aquariums, the Galician river ecosystem is reproduced with endemic pearl-producing clam
Clam
The word "clam" can be applied to freshwater mussels, and other freshwater bivalves, as well as marine bivalves.In the United States, "clam" can be used in several different ways: one, as a general term covering all bivalve molluscs...
s.
Some of the interactive modules allow one to touch mother-of-pearl and other materials and to use a lens to observe the structure of the pearl while other exhibits examine the luxurious history of pearls. There is a reproduction of the Pearl of Lao Tzu
Pearl of Lao Tzu
The Pearl of Lao Tzu is the largest known pearl in the world. It is not a gem-quality pearl, but is instead what is known as a "clam pearl" or "Tridacna pearl" from a giant clam. It measures 24 centimeters in diameter and weighs 6.4 kilograms...
, the largest pearl known to exist, and a collection of portraits portraying famous people like Queen Elizabeth I, Coco Chanel
Coco Chanel
Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel was a pioneering French fashion designer whose modernist thought, menswear-inspired fashions, and pursuit of expensive simplicity made her an important figure in 20th-century fashion. She was the founder of one of the most famous fashion brands, Chanel...
, Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
, Rodolfo Valentino and Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...
donning pearls.
Sala Nautilus
Through 48 windows in a room decorated like Captain NemoCaptain Nemo
Captain Nemo, also known as Prince Dakkar, is a fictional character featured in Jules Verne's novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island ....
's study in the Nautilus
Nautilus (Verne)
The Nautilus is the fictional submarine featured in Jules Verne's novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island . Verne named the Nautilus after Robert Fulton's real-life submarine Nautilus...
, Sala Nautilus is an observation room immersed in a 4400000 litres (9,298,865.5 US pt) pool containing 700 fish of 34 different species: sand shark
Sand shark
Sand sharks, also known as sand tiger sharks or ragged tooth sharks, are lamniform sharks of the family Odontaspididae . They are found worldwide in temperate and tropical waters, including on both sides of the Atlantic coast, but most notably in the Western Indian Ocean and in the Gulf of Maine...
s, amberfish, amberjack
Amberjack
Amberjack refers to 3 species of Atlantic fish of the Carangidae family , which includes the jacks and the pompanos.Greater amberjacks, Seriola dumerili, are the largest of the jacks. They usually have dark stripes extending from nose to in front of their dorsal fins...
s, yellowtail
Yellowtail
A yellowtail may be any of several different species of fish. Most commonly the Yellowtail amberjack Seriola lalandi is meant. In the context of sushi, yellowtail usually refers to the Japanese amberjack, Seriola quinqueradiata...
s, grouper
Grouper
Groupers are fish of any of a number of genera in the subfamily Epinephelinae of the family Serranidae, in the order Perciformes.Not all serranids are called groupers; the family also includes the sea basses. The common name grouper is usually given to fish in one of two large genera: Epinephelus...
s, ocean sunfish
Ocean sunfish
The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, or common mola, is the heaviest known bony fish in the world. It has an average adult weight of . The species is native to tropical and temperate waters around the globe. It resembles a fish head with a tail, and its main body is flattened laterally...
; there are also different kinds of sharks like school shark
School shark
The school shark, tope shark, soupfin shark or snapper shark, Galeorhinus galeus, is a hound shark of the family Triakidae, the only member of the genus Galeorhinus, found worldwide in subtropical seas at depths of up to...
s, angel shark
Angel shark
The angel sharks are an unusual genus of sharks with flattened bodies and broad pectoral fins that give them a strong resemblance to rays. The more than 16 known species are in the genus Squatina, the only genus in its family, Squatinidae, and order Squatiniformes. They occur worldwide in temperate...
s, spiny dogfish
Spiny dogfish
The spiny dogfish, spurdog, mud shark, or piked dogfish, Squalus acanthias, is one of the best known of the dogfish which are members of the family Squalidae in the order Squaliformes. While these common names may apply to several species, Squalus acanthias is distinguished by having two spines ...
, hound shark
Hound shark
Houndsharks are a family, Triakidae, of ground sharks, consisting of about 40 species in 9 genera. In some classifications, the family is split into two sub-families, with Mustelus, Scylliogaleus, and Triakis in sub-family Triakinae, and the remaining genera in sub-family Galeorhininae.Houndsharks...
s, nursehound
Nursehound
The nursehound , also known as the large-spotted dogfish, greater spotted dogfish, or bull huss, is a species of catshark, family Scyliorhinidae, found in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. It is generally found amongst rocks or algae at a depth of...
s and catshark
Catshark
Catsharks are ground sharks of the family Scyliorhinidae, with over 150 known species. While they are generally known as catsharks, many species are commonly called dogfish....
s as well as frequenters of the Galician coast like sea bass
European seabass
The European seabass, Dicentrarchus labrax, also known as Morone labrax, is a primarily ocean-going fish that sometimes enters brackish and fresh waters. It is also known as the sea dace...
, red gurnard
Red Gurnard
Red Gurnard may refer to:* Aspitrigla cuculus, the East Atlantic red gurnard* Chelidonichthys kumu* Chelidonichthys spinosus* Red gurnard perch...
s, immense turbot
Turbot
The turbot is a species of flatfish in the family Scophthalmidae. It is native to marine or brackish waters of the North Atlantic, Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.-Etymology:...
s, skate
Skate
Skates are cartilaginous fish belonging to the family Rajidae in the superorder Batoidea of rays. There are more than 200 described species in 27 genera. There are two subfamilies, Rajinae and Arhynchobatinae ....
s and filefish
Filefish
Filefish are tropical to subtropical tetraodontiform marine fish of the diverse family Monacanthidae. Found in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, the filefish family contains approximately 107 species in 26 genera...
. One of the major attractions introduced on May 24, 2006 is Gastón, a 3 m (9.8 ft), 100 kg (220.5 lb) male sand shark
Sand shark
Sand sharks, also known as sand tiger sharks or ragged tooth sharks, are lamniform sharks of the family Odontaspididae . They are found worldwide in temperate and tropical waters, including on both sides of the Atlantic coast, but most notably in the Western Indian Ocean and in the Gulf of Maine...
(Carcharias taurus) from the Oceanopolis Aquarium in Brest, France
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
. With him lives a female sand shark named Hermosa
Hermosa
Hermosa may refer to:* The Spanish word for beautiful or gorgeous.* The Spanish word for Formosa* Hermosa, Bataan, Philippines* MicaelaUnited States* Hermosa, Chicago, Illinois* Hermosa, New Mexico* Hermosa, South Dakota* Hermosa Beach, California...
.
The inside of the Nautilus room pays homage to the book from which it originated, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a classic science fiction novel by French writer Jules Verne published in 1870. It tells the story of Captain Nemo and his submarine Nautilus as seen from the perspective of Professor Pierre Aronnax...
by Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
. The room is packed with posters showing various copies of the book and movie posters of several film adaptations and in different languages.
The room is also made to be a replica of the study as described in the book. A collection of objects—furniture, plates, catalogs, scientific apparatuses, paintings, engravings, sea shells, animal and mineral samples, nautical apparatuses and objects, navigational charts, and personal objects—all date to the second half of the nineteenth century and are related to the character of Jules Verne's novel.
The room also has leather-covered Chester armchairs, old maps, and period mirrors that reflect distorted images. The atmosphere is completed with a 20 minute symphony, containing several passages of organ music, specially composed by Luis Delgado
Luis Delgado
Luis Delgado is a Spanish artist, creating music which contains Andalusian, oriental and modern elements. Delgado has made a CD with a collection of poems by Ibn al-Zaqqaq set to music. It is called El sueno de Al-Zaqqaq....
for this room.
Exterior
In the Terraza exterior one is exposed to art about fishing, the cabin of the fishing vessel María del Carmen, and the anchor of the oil tanker Mar Egeo that ran aground on December 3, 1992 spilling oilOil spill
An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially marine areas, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is mostly used to describe marine oil spills, where oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters...
.
From here one can access the Paraíso Marino which receives water directly from the sea and inhabited by three male seals: Altair, Gregor and Hansi. If you look to the left of the aquarium building you can see a Jardín Botánico that contains many of the species present on the Galician coast.
The Piscinarium contains six female seals: Bine, Deneb, Lara, Paula, Petra and Vega.
Finally, the Octopus' Garden contains a place to observe the behavior of octopus
Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...
es.