Description

The Aquarium opened its doors in 1933, adapting the plant in the rooms on the right side of the central fish market, including the clock tower. Twenty-five tanks were built of a capacity varying between 200 and 2500 litres, together with a central tank of 17,000 litres. The water is pumped from the sea at the base of the quay next to the fish market and drawn up via powerful pumps to the clock tower, at a height of about ten metres. Here a large decanting tank is filled from which the water can be supplied to the ground floor. The system is thus an open-circuit one which, despite lacking suitable filtering, has the advantage of constantly replacing the water, leaving its content of plankton unaffected. The actual Aquarium is located on the ground floor and contains about thirty tanks of various sizes. The five largest tanks represent the principal habitats of the northern Adriatic (mussel farming, submerged artificial reefs, wreck, jetty and open-sea environment), while the smaller tanks house the typical species of the Mediterranean, including langoustes, lobsters, sea bream, sea bass, scorpionfish, snappers, moray eels, mullet and striped seabream. The first floor is instead occupied by the Vivarium, housing numerous species of amphibians and reptiles, and with a particular focus on the fauna of Friuli Venezia Giulia and neighbouring regions.