The Lisbon Oceanarium, or Oceanario de Lisboa, is Europe’s largest indoor aquarium. One of the most popular tourist attractions in Portugal, the Lisbon Oceanarium is visited by over 1 million guests each year. The Oceanarium’s permanent exhibits, titled One Planet, One Ocean, hold over 5 million gallons of ocean water and over 8,000 species of sea life. The largest central exhibit tank is a 1.3 million-gallon tank, with a depth of approximately 23 feet.
Containing over 100 species of fish, the tank is visible from throughout the Oceanarium. Highlights of the species within the exhibit include the sunfish, groupers, sharks, rays and moray eels. The exhibit is one of the only in the world to house an ocean sunfish, which are notoriously difficult to care for in captivity.
Four additional exhibit tanks surround the central tank and mimic four separate marine ecosystems, including tropical coral reefs, pacific kelp forests, the Antarctic coastline and the rocky North Atlantic coast. Each of the exhibits combines both marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Each tank houses both marine and terrestrial algae and plants found in the respective ecosystems, a collection of invertebrates such as cuttlefish, jellyfish, starfish and live coral, and a wide variety of fish. Permanent bird residents of the aquarium include 2 species of penguin, and seabirds such as the razorbill auk, Atlantic puffin, Inca tern and common murre. Amphibians include the Pipa frog and the axolotl salamander, who live mostly in the water, as well as terrestrial tree frogs. The only mammals at the aquarium are the sea otters, part of the Pacific Kelp Forest exhibit. The two adult otters, Micas and Maré, were born at the Oceanarium. The have recently been joined by Odi and Kasi, two otters who were born in 2017 and were rescued by the Alaskan SeaLife Center. Because they were unable to return to the wild, they now live at the Lisbon Oceanarium.
History: The Lisbon Oceanarium opened in 1998, part of Expo ’98, the last World’s Fair of the 20th Century. Located on a pier in an artificial lagoon, the Oceanarium was designed by the architect Peter Chermayeff, who also designed another of the world’s largest aquariums in Osaka, Japan. The Oceanarium’s two large buildings are connected by a courtyard.
The Oceanarium is committed to promoting the conservation of the world’s oceans and supports its mission by offering a wide range of educational programs to increase public awareness of current threats to ocean environments. In addition, it supports the research and conservation efforts of several partner organizations. It was the first public aquarium in Europe to be certified by the Eco-Management watchdog, EMAS, and includes sustainability initiatives in its development strategy. The current sole shareholder of the Oceanarium is the non-profit Oceano Azul Foundation, whose mission is to assess the planet’s sustainability from the ocean’s point of view. The Oceanarium is accredited with the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and the Portuguese Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Ongoing Programs and Education: Guided tours are available for both the permanent and temporary exhibits, and should be booked in advance. The Oceanarium offers a variety of educational programs for school, including educational tools and workshops for teachers who wish to bring ocean education to their classrooms.Vaivem Oceanario is a traveling program that takes ocean education programs on the road to schools and events throughout Portugal.
Events at the Oceanarium include Birthday Parties for kids and Sleeping with the Sharks, an overnight sleepover at the Oceanarium. Concerts for Babies offers live musical programming for babies and toddlers every Saturday morning. Fado for Kids takes place the first and third Saturday of each month, offering live traditional Portuguese music for children of all ages. Oceans for All Ages is a guided tour of the permanent exhibits designed for guests ages 65 and older.
Past and Future Exhibits: The Oceanarium’s current temporary exhibit combines art with science to create a tropical forest in an underwater aquarium environment. Designed by Takashi Amano (1954-2015), a world-famous aquascaper, the Forests Underwater exhibit is accompanied by a musical soundtrack and offers a space where guests can quietly contemplate nature, and in particular tropical forests, which occupy just 6% of the world’s surface, yet are home to more than 50% of the earth’s species. The 130-foot long u-shaped exhibit contains over 130,000 gallons of water, 46 plant species, and 40 species of freshwater fish.
Esplanada D. Carlos I - 1990-005 Lisbon, Portugal, Phone: +35-12-18-91-70-00
