The COEX Aquarium in Gangnam district

Gangnam-gu

Gangnam-gu is one of the 25 gu which make up the city of Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the most affluent areas of Seoul and is located in the southeast of the city...

, Seoul

Seoul

Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

, is one of South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

's largest Aquarium

Aquarium

An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...

s with over 40,000 creatures from over 650 species on display.
The COEX Aquarium features 90 exhibition tanks grouped in fourteen "discovery zones", including six themed areas. The aquarium is housed within the COEX mall

COEX Mall

COEX Mall is an underground shopping mall located in Gangnam-gu Seoul, South Korea. It is Asia's largest underground shopping mall with an area of about 85,000 square metres...

, which is, itself, part of the larger COEX Convention & Exhibition Center

COEX Convention & Exhibition Center

COEX Convention & Exhibition Center in Gangnam district, Seoul, is one of South Korea's largest convention and exhibition centers. It was designed by Larry Oltmanns who was a Design Partner with SOM at the time...

. The aquarium opened in 2000.

Exhibits

The COEX Aquarium is arranged such that visitors follow a preset path through the aquarium, experiencing each of the themed areas in turn. Each exhibit features a dedicated aquarium tank where visitors can view species of fish indigenous to the theme location. In addition to fish, other local animals are included in the exhibit such as birds, otters, and polar bears, and appropriate vegetation is also included in each exhibit.

The theme areas, in order of presentation, are:

• The Inca Empire
• Amazonian World
• Seven Seas
• Ocean Kingdom
• Marine Touch
• Undersea Tunnel

In the undersea tunnel exhibit, visitors walk in an acrylic tunnel through a tank containing 2000 tons

Tonne

The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...

 of water. The tank includes sharks and sea turtles which swim around visitors in all directions.

In the an introductory first gallery, six tanks are filled with fish which are changed each season. The aquarium also features exhibits detailing the local Korean river ecosystems. The COEX Aquarium also features several smaller exhibits, many with a focus on entertaining children. One such exhibit, titled "Wonderland", contains a collection of "eccentric fish tanks" including a shower cubicle, computer monitor, bath tub, and toilet bowl. Several exhibits specifically allow visitors to touch starfish and shellfish

Shellfish

Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some kinds are found only in freshwater...

.