Embark on a fascinating journey to the depths of the ocean when you visit the Roquetas de Mar Aquarium. Observe at close quarters an underwater world filled with a dazzling array of creatures such as sharks, flying fish, octopus and stingrays.
The aquarium is divided into seven zones that contain saltwater and freshwater species. Your self-guided tour starts in the tropical freshwater room. Study piranhas and other freshwater species in a representation of the Amazon River. While here buy some fish food from the machine and feed the koi carps.
Then enter the tropical marine room where a variety of colorful fish live in a re-creation of a coral reef. Gaze through the panoramic window of the oceanic tank, the largest tank of the aquarium. It houses several large marine species such as bull sharks. These animals can also be seen while walking through the transparent tunnel.
Learn about the importance of posidonia oceanica, an endemic sea grass species of the Mediterranean Sea. It produces oxygen for the marine creatures that live in and around vast aquatic fields of the vegetation. Visit tanks that represent the rocky seafloor of the Mediterranean. Among the animals you will see are conger eels, groupers and loggerhead turtles.
Look at starfish, hermit crabs and limbless invertebrates known as holothuria in the Touch Touch Zone. Visit the ray tank to touch species such as stingrays and red-tipped sharks. Pay extra to dive among the aquarium's sharks. If you are not a qualified diver, you can still venture under the water in a safety cage where you’ll be treated to close-up views of sharks as they swim by you.
Roquetas de Mar Aquarium is open daily from June to September and every day except Mondays and Tuesdays from October to May. Admission charges apply with discounts for senior citizens and children under the age of 14. There is no entrance fee for children under the age of 3. Find the aquatic attraction a few blocks behind the oceanfront.