Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan

In 1988, with the aim of redeveloping the Osaka Bay Area, the Kaiyukan and Tempozan Marketplace were to be built following the success stories of aquariums and commercial facilities overseas. The number of visitors reached 50 million on February 26, 2008. Achievement in 6317 days (about 18 years) is the fastest among aquariums in Japan, and about 60% of the visitors are repeaters. In 2014, the total number of visitors exceeded 65 million. A ceremony was held in 2024 to celebrate the achievement of 85 million total visitors. ==Exhibits==

Visitors go up to the eighth floor on the escalator, passing through the Aqua Gate, a tunnel tank housing various tropical fish species. After exiting the escalator, visitors enter the Japan Forest, which recreates a Japanese forest and houses Asian small-clawed otters, Japanese giant salamanders, black-crowned night herons and many other native freshwater animals. The walk-through aquarium displays marine life in several habitats comprising 27 tanks in 16 main exhibits with a total volume of 10,941 tons of water. The habitats are from the Ring of Fire area of the Pacific Ocean, including the Aleutian Islands (tufted puffins), Monterey Bay (California sea lions and Spotted seals), Gulf of Panama (South American coatis & long-spine porcupinefish), Ecuador Rain Forest (arapaima, red-bellied piranhas, capybaras & green iguanas), Antarctica (penguins), Tasman Sea (Pacific white-sided dolphins) and Great Barrier Reef (palette surgeonfish, pennant coralfish & threadfin butterflyfish), Seto Inland Sea (common octopuses, Japanese spiny lobsters & red seabreams), Coast of Chile (Japanese anchovies and South American pilchards), Cook Sea Strait (loggerhead sea turtles, deepwater burrfish & scarlet wrasse), Japan Deeps (Japanese spider crabs, Australian ghostsharks & Hilgendorf's saucords) and a jellyfish gallery (moon jellyfish & northern sea nettles). The Aqua Gate at the entrance and the Jellyfish corner are recent facilities built in 1998. In 2020, the museum shop was reopened on February 22, after renewal work was carried out to coincide with the 30th anniversary of its opening. The music used at Kaiyukan changes with the time of day, but these are all from the "Acoustic Cafe Underwater Walk" album. Aqua Gate • Barhead spinefoot • Blotched foxface • Bluespine unicornfish • Horn-nosed boxfish • Orangespine unicornfish • Orbicular batfish • Sailfin tang • Silver moony • Soldierfish Japan Forest • Asian small-clawed otter • Ayu sweetfish • Black-crowned night heron • Dark chub • Japanese freshwater crab • Mandarin duck • Pale chub • Red-spotted masu salmon Aleutian Islands • Tufted puffin Monterey Bay • California sea lion • Largha seal Gulf of Panama • Blotcheye soldierfish • Common bluestripe snapper • Long-spine porcupinefish • Longnose butterflyfish • Scrawled filefish • South American coati • Spotfin burrfish • Tete sea catfish • White-spotted puffer • Yellow-brown wrasse Ecuador rainforest • Arowana • Barred sorubim • Blackline penguinfish • Freshwater angelfish • Piracuru • Pirapitinga • Red-bellied piranha • Redtail catfish • South American river turtle Antarctica • Adélie penguin • Gentoo penguin • King penguin Tasman Sea • Pacific white-sided dolphin Great Barrier Reef • Barrier Reef chromis • Black butterflyfish • Blackback butterflyfish • Blue-green damselfish • Dot dash butterflyfish • Elegant firefish • Manybar goatfish • Moorish idol • Orange-band surgeonfish • Ornate spiny lobster • Palette surgeonfish • Razorfish • Redbelly yellowtail fusilier • Reticulate dascyllus • Scribbled angelfish • Sea goldie • Semicircled angelfish • Spotted moray eel • Threadfin butterflyfish • Whitecheek surgeonfish Pacific Ocean • Banded houndshark • Bigeye trevally • Blacktip reef shark • tope shark • Bluefin trevally • Longtooth grouper • Japanese wobbegong • Bluestreak cleaner wrasse • Scalloped hammerhead • Bowmouth guitarfish • Giant grouper • Flapnose ray • Ocean sunfish • Giant trevally • Honeycomb stingray • Humpback red snapper • Indian mackerel • Japanese bullhead shark • Japanese jack mackerel • Live sharksucker • Longtooth grouper • Malabar grouper • Pink whipray • Rainbow runner • Reef manta ray • Round ribbontail ray • Sand tiger shark • Sharpnose stingray • Short-tail stingray • Smallspotted dart • Snubnose pompano • Spangled emperor • Spotted eagle ray • Striped bonito • Whale shark • Whitetip reef shark • Zebra shark Seto Inland Sea • Areolate grouper • Asian sheephead wrasse • Barred knifejaw • Blackfin seabass • Blacktip grouper • Brassy chub • Chicken grunt • Comet grouper • Common octopus • Goldlined seabream • Grey large-eye bream • Japanese amberjack • Japanese sea bass • Japanese spiny lobster • Kidako moray • Long barbeled grunter • Olive flounder • Red seabream • Spiny red gurnard • Stripey • Thread-sail filefish • Yellowfin seabream Coast of Chile • Japanese anchovy • Japanese sardine Cook Strait • Blue maomao • Butterfly perch • Deepwater burrfish • Eastern nannygai • Green sea turtle • New Zealand demoiselle • Red moki • Scarlet wrasse Japan Deep • Big roughy • Hilgendorf's saucord • Japanese armorhead • Japanese codling • Japanese spider crab • Longspine snipefish • Mandarin dogfish • Splendid alfonsino • Sunrise perch Jellyfish • Bay nettle • Flower hat jelly • Japanese sea nettle • Mikado comb jelly • Moon jelly • Pacific sea nettle • Spotted jelly Arctic Region • Arctic char • Clione • Lumpfish • Ringed seal Falkland Islands • Southern rockhopper penguin Gyugyutto Cute • Banded coral shrimp • Blood red fire shrimp • Clown anemonefish • Harlequin shrimp • Splendid garden eel • Spotted garden eel == Research and conservation ==

. Osaka Aquarium are focusing on research on sharks and Rays. In addition, the past eight surveys of tagging whale sharks have revealed that they can migrate to the Philippines and dive to a depth of . The aquarium has been breeding and studying Giant Devil Rays since 2008. "OBIC" devil rays were trained for health management for transportation to the Pacific Tank, and a large 8-meter-diameter tank was set up on the deck of the ship, The giant devil rays were transported over a long distance from Kochi Prefecture to Osaka under conditions that allowed them to swim freely. At the aquarium, giant devil rays became pregnant in 2022. It was the first time in the world that a giant devil ray was conceived in captivity. After the pregnancy was discovered, regular ultrasound examinations were used to check the growth of the fetus and to record changes in the mother's abdomen bulge and behavior. In addition, to protect the pups after birth, a partition net was set up in the tank in preparation for the birth. Pups were born on the morning of May 16, and although the birth was celebrated with great fanfare, the pups swam unsteadily and weakly, and died at 16:18. Based on the results of the pathological autopsy and blood tests, the cause of death was considered to be due to an imbalance of blood due to physical exhaustion from not being able to swim. In addition, since the opening of the Osaka Aquarium, it has succeeded in breeding spotted seals, pelagic stingrays, California sea lions and Sea otters, and received the breeding award from the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Research center "OBIC" Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan has a research center "Osaka Aquarium Biological Research Institute of Iburi Center (OBIC)" in Iburi, Kochi Prefecture, where fish swimming tests and animals to be brought in are carried out in tanks with a water volume of and a water volume of . Although it was not exhibited at the aquarium, they succeeded in captive breeding Pelagic threshers for 26 days at the offshore fish farms in Iburi, Kochi Prefecture. ==Architecture and name ==

The Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan's conceptual design, architecture, and exhibit design was led by Peter Chermayeff of Peter Chermayeff LLC while at Cambridge Seven Associates. Visitors first take an escalator up to the 8th floor, and then walk down a corridor to the 4th floor. The first three floors are machine rooms containing filtration equipment and are not open to the public. ==Gallery==

File:Port of Osaka Aquarium 2010.jpg File:Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan 2013-09F.JPG File:1 Chome Kaigandōri, Minato-ku, Ōsaka-shi, Ōsaka-fu 552-0022, Japan - panoramio - jetsun.jpg File:Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan (5262319413).jpg File:Kissing otters.jpg File:Kaiyukan, Osaka, Japan (9229056167).jpg File:Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan 3-24 (26489093555).jpg File:Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan 2013-09C.JPG File:Dolphins (3595430038).jpg File:Osaka Aquarium(Lagenorhynchus obliquidens).jpg File:サンタ (8276813559).jpg File:Light blue Homarus americanus at Osaka aquarium 01.jpg File:Whale Watching at the Osaka Aquarium.jpg File:Kaiyukan manta ray.jpg File:Whale Shark - Osaka Aquarium.jpg File:Thunnus orientalis (Osaka Kaiyukan Aquarium).jpg File:Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan (5262322313).jpg File:Osaka (48471001562).jpg File:Sharks.Osaka.JPG File:Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan (5262933558).jpg File:Ocean.Sunfish.Osaka.JPG file:Japanese-spidercrab.jpg File:Jellyfish (6159273286).jpg File:Jellyfish, Osaka Aquarium.jpg file:Small.Jellyfish.Osaka.jpg File:- panoramio - jetsun (28).jpg File:Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan 2013-09A.JPG File:Pusa hispida (Osaka Aquarium KAIYUKAN).JPG File:Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan 3-24 (26216339690).jpg File:Petting sharks and rays (6453209839).jpg File:People touch fishes at Osaka Aquarium 01.jpg File:People touch fishes at Osaka Aquarium 03.jpg ==See also==