The World's Most Impressive Aquariums

The impression the world's most stunning aquariums leave can only be described as magical, beautiful, ravishing...Whether it is the largest aquarium in the world or an innovative acrylic cylinder, visiting these places will make you believe that you step into an underwater world.

See below a selection of several most striking aquariums in the world.

Oceanário de Lisboa. Lisbon. Portugal

www.oceanario.pt

The Ocean has always played a huge role in Portugal, shaping its history and culture. Therefore the Lisbon's aquarium is fully dedicated to the ocean's ecosystem. The complex, opened in 1998, is a part of Parque das Nações (the Park of the Nations), the former location of Expo '98.

The queen of this underwater kingdom is the sunfish (mola mola), the heaviest bony fish in the world (1,000 kg). The fish, though heavy, is of a very delicate nature and therefore it requires very unique and special care - the oceanarium in Lisbon is one of the few aquariums in the world that are able to house the mola mola.

AQWA. Perth. Australia

www.aqwa.com.au

Another place where you can experience the underwater realm with its abundant marine life is the Aqwa, the Aquarium of the Western Australia, featuring the Australia's largest aquarium complex. Shipwreck Coast, the main aquarium's tank, is 40 m long, 20 m wide and 4.5 m deep.

Visitors may admire hundreds of different species of fish and other ocean creatures walking through a 98 meter long acrylic tunnel, which is a part of the main tank (it holds 3m litres of seawater). The AQWA's fish collection includes 8 different types of sharks.

L'Oceanogràfic. Valencia. Spain

www.cac.es

The Aquarium in Valencia (L'Oceanogràfic) lies in the heart of the stunning futuristic City of Arts and Sciences. It is the largest open-air oceanographic park in Europe that takes up 110,000 square meters of space. Its main building was designed in the shape of a water lily by a prominent Spanish architect, Felix Candela.

L'Oceanogràfic is inhabited by 45,000 fish and sea animals that represent the ecosystems of the Mediterranean, Arctic and Antarctic zones as well as tropical seas, temperate seas and the Red Sea.

The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. Okinawa. Japan.

www.kaiyouhaku.com

This is the second largest and one of the most enchanting aquariums in the world. Its main tank is so large that it deserved to be named Kuroshio Sea. It holds 7,500-cubic meters (1,981,290 gallons) of water.

The main aquarium is one of the three tanks in the world that can house the whale shark, the world's largest fish that can grow up to 12 m (40 ft). Here also the first successful birth of manta ray in captivity took place. The window of the main tank is the second largest acrylic panel in the world being 22.5 m wide, 8.2 m high and 600 mm thick.

Watch the spectacular show featuring the Kuroshio Sea's marine residents:

The AquaDom. Berlin. Germany.

www.radissonblu.com

The AquaDom is the most unusual (in terms of design and innovation) of the world's aquariums. It is a 25 m tall acrylic glass aquarium of cylindrical shape. The built-in glass elevator takes visitors up on a tour through the aquarium filled with around 2,600 fish of 56 species.

This staggering construction is located in the Radisson SAS Hotel in Berlin, and it is the world's largest acrylic cylinder (diameter of around 11m). The project cost 12.8m euro.

Dubai Aquarium & Discovery Centre.

www.thedubaiaquarium.com

This is a record-breaking aquarium featuring the largest acrylic panel, bigger than the one at Churaumi Aquarium in Okinawa. The panel, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "World's Largest Acrylic Panel", is 32.88 m wide, 8.3m high and 750mm thick.

The aquarium features around 33,000 fishes and sea animals of 85 species. The complex is part of the Dubai Mall, a huge shopping and entertainment center, opened in November 2008.

The Georgia Aquarium. Atlanta. The USA.

www.georgiaaquarium.org

Around 100,000 animals of 500 different species are the residents of the largest aquarium in the world- Georgia Aquarium- that contains around 8.1 million gallons (31,000 cubic meters) of sea and fresh water.

Among the most important members of this huge marine residents are whale sharks - the Georgia Aquarium is the only aquarium outside Asia that keeps the whale sharks.