David's Diary: Thursday, December 27, 2001
Barcelona Aquarium
La Aquarium
Having spent many years cruising the west coast of Canada we have come to appreciate aquatic wildlife. Our children have been beachcombing since the time they could crawl and we have been members of Vancouver's Pacific Science Center for several years. With this background, we were keen to visit the Barcelona Aquarium.
The aquarium is reported to be one of the biggest in all of Europe and is very new having been built in 1995. The aquarium is next door to where we are staying and a short walk took us there. We enjoyed the entire aquarium, but a couple of things stand out for us. The shark pool provides 180 degree views as you move along a sliding sidewalk.
Upstairs in the aquarium is a hands-on area. This included many static displays that the children could enjoy, but it also included a pool where you were so close to the fish that you could reach out and touch them (although you were not allowed to). We are still getting used to the lack of intertidal zone here in the Mediterranean. In Vancouver, 3m/12ft tidal changes are the norm. Such large tidal changes provide rich nutrients that support an entire ecosystem between the low- and high-tide line. This zone is missing in the Mediterranean as their as tidal movement is virtually non-existent. We missed some of this variety during our visit to the aquarium. For more background on Mediterranean ecology, take a look at Jocelyn's special report that she did for science.
