Location: Sevastopol
Institute of Biology (Аквариум Музей) of the Southern Seas in Sevastopol stands on the shore of the Artillery Bay in the center of Sevastopol. Its white beautiful building is hard to miss. Aquarium Museum that is situated within its walls was found in 1897, one of the oldest such museums in Europe. Currently Aquarium Museum houses over 200 of various species of Black Sea fish, tropical reef fish, reptiles and various invertebrates. The first hall of the Sevastopol Aquarium Museum is reserved for various tropical biospheres. This includes both salt water and freshwater creatures. In addition to sharks, lionfish, clown fishes and various other fishes Museum has an extensive collection of sea anemones, sea urchins, corals and other invertebrates. Although the main part of the Aquarium Museum takes ecosystem of the Black and Azov Sea. Numerous foxes, mackerel, stingrays, mullets, beluga, Russian sturgeon and many other fishes are presented here. There is also a small exposition of several reptiles that is present here including Cayman crocodile named Gena, turtles, iguanas and many others.,
Sevastopol Marine Aquarium Museum - one of the oldest public
aquariums in Europe, is the very first marine aquarium in the
Russian Empire. It was founded in 1897 at the Sevastopol biological
station, which is not only the oldest Russian biological station,
but also the fifth in the world in time of its creation. The idea of
creating the Aquarium belongs to the first director of the
Sevastopol Biological Station, Academician A.O. Kovalevsky.
He achieved the construction of a special building for a biological
station with a marine aquarium on the shores of the Sevastopol Bay,
on the site of the former Nikolaev battery. In order to organize the
construction at the proper level, A.O. Kovalevsky specially traveled
abroad - to France, to Italy, studying the setting of the case at
biological stations in Naples, Villafranca, on the Mediterranean
Sea, Arcaron, on the Atlantic coast. At that time, the aquarium had
only one hall, where the inhabitants of the Black Sea were
demonstrated. The premises of the marine aquarium protruded on the
northwestern side of the building in the form of a quadrangular
terrace. Inside the room there were 7 wall aquariums (with a total
volume of 18 m3) and a central pool of 24 m3. All pools of the
aquarium were filled with the Black Sea ichthyofauna.
The
aquarium was open to visitors free of charge 3 days a week (Sunday,
Tuesday, Thursday). The teachings of the Sevastopol Biological
Station gave lectures about the life of the Black Sea to organized
groups of visitors. Even before the opening of the Aquarium, SBS
scientists collected and made collections of Black Sea fish.
The formation of the museum and the further activity of the marine
aquarium is associated with the name of the largest Russian
hydrobiologist Academician S.A. Zernov, who led the Sevastopol
Biological Station from 1901 to 1914. Due to the difficult financial
situation of the Station S.A. Zernov fussed about introducing an
entrance fee to the Aquarium. On April 6, 1904, admission to the
Aquarium was fixed three days a week, on other days the public
visited the Aquarium for free. Since 1902, the SBS Museum began to
form, which was replenished with collections of biological material
in the Black and Marmara Seas. The museum developed slowly due to
lack of premises. Thanks to the efforts of S.A. Zernov, the south
wing was added to the station building in 1912, where the museum was
located.
"... The museum, in which the currently working
scientific staff will concentrate all the results of their work on
the study of the Black Sea, will give the next generations of the
station employees an easy opportunity to get acquainted with the
composition of the Black Sea fauna and its distribution and go
further in the study of the Black Sea, and those involved at the
station they will always have the opportunity to easily and visually
familiarize themselves with the material that the Black Sea can give
them ... Of course, there is no need to expand on the educational
significance of the museum for visitors "(S.A. Zernov.)
Currently, the Aquarium has 5 halls:
The exposition of
the first hall allows visitors to get acquainted with the ancient
inhabitants of the tropical seas of the basins of the Atlantic,
Indian and Pacific Oceans, who lived in the Cabrian period of the
Paleozoic era - echinoderms, arthropods, sponges, corals and
mollusks. Thanks to multimedia equipment that provides a dynamic
addition to the exhibition environment, the exhibits of the “Museum
of Hydrobionts of the Southern Seas” are combined into a “living”
Ocean, into a single whole. This effect allows the visitor to plunge
into the fabulous underwater world and feel like an integral part of
it.
The second hall presents a unique, the largest in the world,
collection of the inhabitants of the Black Sea. Aquarium designers
have created panoramic underwater landscapes, including the ruins of
Chersonese, the wrecks of sunken corvettes, brigs, scows.
In the
third hall, visitors will, first of all, take a trip on the Time
Machine into the depths of history - after all, it was in this hall
that the first public Aquarium in the history of Russia was opened
120 years ago. The modern exposition of this hall is represented by
freshwater inhabitants of five continents, placed in specially
designed aquariums, conveying the spirit of the locality of their
inhabitants.
The fourth hall will meet guests with unusual
representatives of the amazing world of reptiles - crocodile and
turtles.
The fifth hall contains hydrobionts of the World Ocean,
representing a potential danger to humans.