Guide for Families to Suma Aqualife Park

Next to the Aqualife Park is the Suma Beach swimming area and an expansive park filled with greenery that is not only a splendid environment for the ecology of marine life but also a place with facilities built for the close observation of marine life in an environment that is as natural as possible.
Protruding from the 1st and 2nd floors of the Main Building is a large tank where sharks, stingrays, and sea turtles swim beside schools of sardines. Surges of water created by an artificial wave maker give visitors a feeling of the mighty deep of the Pacific Ocean.
There is also Japan's first underwater tunnel called "Amazon World." Here enormous fresh water fish swim around you and you can watch the spectacle of fish swimming above as you experience the feeling of walking underwater.
At Suma Aqualife Park, you are treated to three kinds of events recommended for families: a live fish show, an sea otter feeding show, and a dolphin show.
Each show has four performances a day (more often on Sundays during the Summer holidays.)

Get off the Kobe City bus at the Suma Aqualife Park bus stop located in front of the main gate of the Aquarium. The three-story Main Building is found close to the gate.

Protruding from the 1st and 2nd floors of the main hall is a large tank (25 meters wide and containing 1,200 tons of sea water). There is a transparent wall made of acrylic resin with a thickness of 210 mm where you can see sharks, stingrays, and sea turtles swim beside schools of sardines. Surges of water created by an artificial wave maker give visitors a feeling of the mighty deep of the Pacific Ocean.

*Self-protection by fish through schooling, camouflage, poison, spines, and symbiosis.

The Fish Live Theater is found close to the West Exit. Here, archerfish, electric eels and piranhas can be observed at four daily special feeding times each day. A large school of roughly 1,500 piranhas can be seen swimming in the Piranha Tunnel.

At the World Fish House located next to the Fish Live Theater, you can see many rare fish from around the world, including the beluga sturgeon, four-eyed fish, and lungfish. The lungfish was especially important in the evolution from fish to land animals.

At the aviary next to the World Fish House, you are treated to colorful performances of Indian peacocks and golden fowls roaming at large.

The No.1 and No.2 buildings for "Landscape Tank" are located south of the World Fish House. Water tanks, half-submerged underground, stand among the dense forest and exhibit Australian lungfish in a group of sturgeon, Japanese giant salamanders, and Asian arowanas.

Shells are shown like precious stones, using sound, lighting and visuals to give a fantastic representation of the ocean they live in.

"Amazon World" and "Sea Otter House" can be found along Seaside Promenade south of "Landscape Tank No.2. At "Amazon World," Japan's first underwater tunnel can be seen. Here enormous fish from the Amazon River, or what can be called the last sanctuary on the earth full of water, green plants, and living things, swim around you. You can watch the spectacle of pirarucu or the world biggest freshwater fish swimming above as you experience the feeling of walking underwater.

　

The "Sea Otter House" is located east of the Amazon World. Here is a water tank for sea otters surrounded by plants in a natural setting with rocks arranged like an Alaskan reef and sunlight through the glass roof. You can see the sea otters swimming nearby eating octopi, squids, and Saxidomus purpuratus or clams using lovely gestures. Feeding takes place four times a day with commentary. (The number of times is subject to seasonal changes.)

The Turtle Pool is found east of the Sea Otter House, and the upstairs "Dolphin Live Pavilion" has a big 'show pool' where dolphin and penguin shows attract families with children. The evening show is recommended during the summer holidays. The pool's depth is 3.5 meters and its quantity of water is 690 tons. The auditorium, stretching around the show pool, can contain about 1,700 people. The auditorium side of the show pool is made of transparent acrylic glass, and you can closely see the dolphins swimming under the water.
The Dolphin Live Show is presented 4-5 times on weekdays and 5-6 times on Sundays and holidays. Also you can see the dolphins swimming anytime when there is no show.

The "Penguin Pool" is located at the north corner of the "Dolphin Live Pavilion" The penguins make "guest performances" in the dolphin live shows and breed every year. The babies of Magellan penguins borne in May attract visitors by their quite cute gestures during the summer holidays. Many of about 30 penguins are borne in this pool. When baby penguins grow to 50 cm tall or so, they totter on the poolside and ask their parents or feeders for food. Around the end of August, they leave their nests and start to look for food by themselves.

In the same pavilion, skeletons and models of various orca and whales are on display as well.

After touring the Aquarium, enjoy a visit the amusement area with your children. This is a playground for children with many rides such as a merry-go-round, Balloon Cycle, Anpanman Train, and others. The fee for one ride is either 200 or 300 yen. (Note: tickets cannot be refunded.)

Three nursing rooms in the Main Building are each with a locking door and a two seat bench. In the Dolphin Live Pavilion, there is a nursing room with a locking door and a three seat bench.
*A baby bed is provided in each toilet room in the Park.
*Baby strollers and wheel chairs are available free of charge, but the quantity is limited.