Nordsøen Oceanarium North Sea Oceanarium

Has anyone here on ZooChat been to this aquarium, located up in northern Denmark in the town of Hirtshals (where you catch the ferry to Norway). From its website, it looks very good and I may try to visit this place on my upcoming (May) trip to Scandinavia.

North Sea Oceanarium - FIRST PAGE

 

Perhaps too late but I'll reply anyway

I have been there a few times. Last time about 2 years ago and if I get the time I will probably visit again this year. I quite like it but it is important to mention that they only keep Danish saltwater species. If you mainly are interested in big sharks, colorful tropical coral reefs or freshwater fish you'll be disappointed.

Just compared the different language versions and the danish has a bit more about the main exhibits than the english (google translate is ok for most danish)

http://translate.google.com/transla...dk/De%20syv%20destinationer-3065.aspx&act=url
for the other exhibit click on their names on the left side of the page

 

It isn't the zoo/aquarium to make your top priority when you're in Denmark (or Scandinavia as a whole), partly because of its quite isolated location and quite limited array of different animal types like Condor mentions - but if you happen to be in Hirtshals (like if you have to take a ferry to Norway), it is surely worth a visit. And if you're interested in the maritime life of Denmark, it's probably the best place to go in the world.

I've been there many, many times (my grandparents live in the town of Hjørring 15 km away, and when I was younger and visited them, we always used to go there), and yeah, I would recommend it. It's very educating in all aspects of the North Sea, fishing and the sorts, and you can see most common fish species of the North Sea, including two nice specimens of sunfishes. They've completely rebuilt half of the place since I visited last time, so I don't know how that part is now. It seems that the education is more approaching children now, and they have fewer fish in bigger tanks.

 

Does anyone know whether the Oceanarium still keeps any Ocean sunfishes?

 

Looking at their site, it seems that they still do.

 

I can see that myself; however, I somewhat doubt that the people responsible with the website management are always up to date when it comes to animal husbandry. Hence my question.

 

Oh, I understand. I made the assumption that they were a big part of the collection since they were on many pictures on the main page.

 

I'm pretty sure they still do. Given that the sunfish is (or are when they have more than one) their number one drawcard, they are usually pretty good at announcing it when they lose one and when they a receive a new one.

 

Thank you for the confirmation @Hvedekorn. Is the Oceanarium otherwise worth a visit?

 

Well, it's a native species aquarium, so if you don't expect tropical fish or a huge collection in general, it's most definitely worth a visit. Den Blå Planet may be the best "general" aquarium in Denmark, but for North Atlantic species, the Oceanarium is better, possibly the best in Europe.

 

Thanks. Since the closeby Ozeaneum in Stralsund offers a good portray of North Atlantic species, the sun fish would probably be the only species that could convince my wife to agree to a visit.

 

I visited this terrific aquarium on August 6th and I have uploaded 80 photos of the facility into the gallery. There is a full review of Nordsoen Oceanarium on my Snowleopard's 2022 Road Trip thread and the big news is that the million-gallon tank now has two Ocean Sunfish. They're back!