What’s up guys, this video highlights our visit to the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in
Okinawa, Japan.
Before we jump in, I have to mention that it was a fun drive just getting to it.
The Aquarium is located in the northern part of the Island and we traveled through the
mountainous regions to get there.
The GPS in the rental car was only sort of helpful because although there was an english
setting, we couldn’t punch in an address because it only accepted Japanese input.
Luckily, Erica’s phone had international data and GPS so we got turn by turn directions
that way.
The aquarium itself is part of a massive complex.
It’s is only one feature in a greater nature park with other sights such as botanical gardens
and beach areas.
One could easily spend all whole day here taking everything in.
It was a bit rainy out so we ended up spending most of time inside the aquarium.
I’ve been to a bunch of public aquariums, and the okinawa aquarium certainly holds its
own as one of the best.
Obviously the sheer size of it is impressive, but the quality of the individual displays
is top notch.
This reef system for example is absolutely spectacular.
The corals in this system are enormous and practically growing on top of one another.
You might also notice that there are coral eating fish and inverts in here.
I know I saw at least five parrot fish.
Then I noticed this cuttlefish come into view.
It’s hard to gauge the size of it from the video alone, but it is probably 15” long.
Cuttlefish are top end predators and have voracious appetites.
Who knows how many other fish in this display this guy consumes on a daily basis.
I find stuff like this interesting because this is the effect scale has on a system.
In a typical home-sized aquarium, you can’t have corallivores and high end predators like
this but in systems of this size the growth of the reef outpaces predation to a large
degree.
I don’t know if the aquarium has to constantly replenish the fish stocking levels, but as
far as the coral is concerned, it doesn’t seem to be dented by the presence of the corallivores.
The Okinawa Aquarium like the Waikiki Aquarium in Hawaii pumps in water directly from the
ocean.
Every time I see a setup like that, the health of the fish and corals looks really amazing.
I am really jealous of their ability to essentially do continuous water changes with perfect water.
The next display over is a large fish system showcasing things like groupers and eels.
It was interesting to note that the this tank was separated from the neighboring reef system
with just some mesh material.
They all share the same water.
One thing I’ll mention about public aquariums as they relate to home aquariums is that the
ones that know what they are doing can shed some light on the natural habitat the fish
and corals come from.
Not everyone can go diving and see the habitat first hand, so a good public aquarium is the
next best thing.
It was only recently that I learned that most plate corals don’t like being on a sandy
substrate.
In the wild, they are almost exclusively found on big chunky rubble.
Right now I think there is a big disconnect between the hobbyist and the natural reef
where hobbyists have no clue whatsoever what conditions certain corals are found in.
The more aware we become of the natural habitat the better we can care for some of these animals,
especially the ones that are notoriously challenging to keep.
The spiny lobsters in this cylinder display were crazy.
The largest one had to be three feet long not counting the antennae.
Most aquariums have a jellyfish display these days.
It’s sort of par for the course.
Until recently, there weren’t residential models for home aquarists, but those never
caught my eye much because I wasn’t a fan of their small size.
Lately though I’ve noticed some manufacturers are making much larger ones and there is a
chance in the future I might consider getting one of those.
Also, I hope that more varieties of jellyfish will be available in the future.
I love these bioluminescent ones for example.
I included this clip of garden eels because they seem to be the unofficial mascot of okinawa.
In gift shops half the stuffed animals are of these fish.
Before, I mentioned that there were several displays outside of the main aquarium building.
These include a dolphin show stadium and these two areas, one dedicated to manatees, and
the other to sea turtles.
They are even breeding them here.
Honestly from top down the turtle enclosure didn’t look like much, but viewed from under
water, it looks really cool.
And finally we come to the tank that the okinawa aquarium is famous for.
The signature display is called the kuroshio sea.
It measures 115 ft long, 89 ft wide, and 33 ft deep.
For those keeping score at home, that is just shy of 2 million gallons of water.
The acrylic panel you see here is 74 ft by 27 ft and is 2 ft. thick.
There are actually 80 species of coral in this tank but let’s be serious nobody notices
them for obvious reasons.
Ok, I’m going to stop talking and just let you guys appreciate this spectacular tank.
Thanks for watching.