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The aquarium museum in Sevastopol at the Institute of the South Seas, one of the oldest museums of its kind in Europe. Collections of tropical fish, Black Sea fauna and exotic amphibians will not leave anyone indifferent.

History of the Museum

Sevastopol Biological Station was established in 1871. It was initiated by the Novorossiysk Society of Naturalists. It is one of the oldest marine biostations in Europe, and for the Russian Empire was the very first. The first head was the zoologist Vasily Nikolaevich Ulyanin, who spent his life researching the fauna of the Black Sea. The second head in 1880 was Sofia Mikhailovna Pereyaslavtseva. After Countess Dashkova in the 18th century, she was the first woman to head a scientific institution in Russia. A PhD and zoologist, she was one of Russia's most prominent researchers of Black Sea biology. Sofya Mikhailovna discovered more than forty species of invertebrate organisms.

Since 1889, Alexander Onufrievich Kovalevsky became the head. It is to him belongs the idea of creating a museum-aquarium. He travelled abroad a lot and studied the experience of other similar biostations and aquariums. Under him a rich scientific library was created and a new building for the biological station was constructed. Before that the station had no suitable premises and moved several times. The place was chosen on the very shore on the site of the former Nicholas Battery. The new building was immediately built with the expectation that it would house a marine aquarium. In 1897 the museum was opened. Now in front of the museum you can see a monument to its founder.

Originally there was one room with a pool and seven aquariums. Only the Black Sea fauna was on display. The museum had an educational function: three days a week it was open free of charge to all visitors. In addition to the aquariums there were stands with various specimens, tables and other inanimate exhibits. In 1912 the building of the biostation was renovated. Another wing was added to it specifically for the scientific collections.

After the revolution, the museum continued to work: in 1926, for example, more than twenty thousand visitors were registered for the year. In the 1930s another reconstruction followed: another wing was added and a fourth floor was added. During the Great Patriotic War the building itself miraculously survived, but the museum collections were not preserved. Most of the inhabitants of the aquarium died - there was no one to look after them.

Until 1951, the building and aquariums were restored. A special room on the lower floors was allocated for the twelve aquariums. More than 30 species of fish and animals were represented in them. The biological station conducted research work and organised expeditions to replenish collections and study the Black Sea fauna.

In the mid-60s there was a reorganisation: Sevastopol Biological Station became the Institute of Biology of the South Seas. Now one hall was occupied by aquariums and swimming pool, and two halls were occupied by the museum exposition.

The last reconstruction of aquarium equipment was made in 1994, and at the beginning of the 21th century new halls with sharks and moray eels were opened.

Aquarium

Now the museum occupies five halls.

The first hall is the "Museum of Hydrobionts of the South Seas". This is the most popular and beautiful exposition, devoted to the inhabitants of tropical sea waters. The inhabitants of tropical warm seas are the oldest creatures on earth. The biological systems of the southern oceans are the most complex and rich of all. In addition to beautiful tropical fish, the oldest inhabitants of the planet are represented here. These are corals, sponges, actinia, various species of molluscs and arthropods. Sponges are among the earliest multicellular organisms, they appeared on the planet at the beginning of the Cambrian and have not changed at all since then. Arthropods appeared a little later - their evolution began 555 million years ago. To modern arthropods, which can be seen in the aquarium, include numerous species of marine shrimp, hermit crabs, crabs. Generally speaking, invertebrates make up the majority of modern living organisms: there are many more species of various invertebrates than fish! But of course there are fish in this collection too. In total, there are more than twenty thousand species on the planet. The brightest and most colourful of them live in shallow waters near coral reefs. But in addition to beautiful "aquarium" fish in the museum you can see predatory moray eels and piranhas, dangerous sea urchins, wings and other sea creatures, which are best to look at in the museum, but not to meet them in person.

The second hall is entirely dedicated to the Black Sea. This is the central room of the aquarium, here, in addition to the exposition, there are schemes of all other rooms and a small souvenir shop. This hall is a direct successor of the very first museum, which was devoted primarily to local inhabitants. Here is the largest aquarium collection of Black Sea fauna in the whole world. The aquariums are decorated in the form of various fragments of the seabed: you can see shipwrecks of different times and ancient underwater ruins. The Black Sea is home to several hundred species of different algae and about two and a half thousand species of animals: more than 160 species of fish, more than 500 different crustaceans, etc. There are also commercial fish: herring, mullet, mackerel, horse mackerel, salmon - and dangerous and even poisonous ones. For example, stingrays sea cat and sea fox, several species of scorpions and sea dragon. And what attracts visitors' attention the most is the large pool with live sturgeons. The Russian sturgeon can reach two metres in length and lives up to forty-five years. Unfortunately, the sturgeon is now almost never seen in the wild, but is actively farmed on special farms.

The third hall. This room is the oldest hall of the museum, once it was here that the seven first aquariums of the early 20th century were located. Now here are representatives of freshwater fauna. There are several aquariums in the hall, in which the living conditions for the inhabitants of different rivers and lakes are reproduced. The most interesting life is, of course, in the southern tropical reservoirs. The Amazon basin, the rivers of Cambodia - all this can be seen here.

The fourth hall is the Exotarium. It is dedicated to reptiles. Several species of turtles live there. For example, the unique freshwater soft-shelled turtles are one of the oldest species of turtles in general. They have a shell, but it is covered with skin rather than a horny layer. They are the hog-nosed turtle from Australia and the Nile trionyx from Africa. There are also sea turtles in the exhibit. For example, the green turtle - it is found in the Atlantic Ocean and can reach one and a half metres in length and four hundred kilograms of weight. Also, of course, you can see here the most common freshwater turtles nowadays - the red-eared turtle. They were once brought to Europe from America, but now their spread has become a real ecological disaster. They have no natural enemies in Europe and are actively breeding.

But, of course, the star of the Exotarium is Crocodile Gena. He is not actually a crocodile, but a crocodile caiman. His predecessor (who lived a long and happy life here), remains as a stuffed animal in one of the halls. That one was known personally to Raul Castro. The Cuban delegation that visited Sevastopol in 1979 was terribly pleased with "his". Caimans are relatively small animals. They can reach a length of only two metres. Larger crocodiles consider them prey. They themselves feed mainly on fish, molluscs and crabs - and are very useful: for example, they happily eat predatory piranhas.

The fifth hall is deadly. Here are collected representatives of marine fauna, meeting with which not in museum conditions can end disastrously. The hall was created in 2013, for the Day of the Navy. A huge forty-ton aquarium is occupied by sharks. These are blacktip reef sharks, one of the most dangerous predators of the marine world. A slightly smaller aquarium is for predatory moray eels. Also on display is Japan's famous fugu fish, which is poisonous if not cooked properly. There is a electric eel. It actually has nothing to do with eels, it's just a bit similar in appearance. This fish can reach up to three metres in length and generate an electrical discharge of up to one and a half thousand volts. The organs that generate electricity take up three quarters of its body length. Another unique feature of this fish is the need to breathe ordinary air. Three or four times an hour, the eel rises to breathe. But he can do without water for several hours. This fish lives in the bolts and mudflats along the Amazon. It uses electricity not only for hunting, but also for orientation in space.

In addition to aquariums and living habitats, the museum includes other exhibits. These are information stands dedicated to the history of the Sevastopol biostation, numerous stuffed animals and shells, fossil fish imprints, and much more.

In addition to the usual excursions, the museum also organises one-off interactive sessions with schoolchildren and cycles of lectures for students in Sevastopol schools. In 2017, the aquarium's one hundred and twentieth anniversary was widely celebrated.

The small open area of the museum is decorated with numerous amusing sculptures on marine themes.

On a side note

  • Location: Sevastopol, Nakhimova Avenue, 2.

  • Official website: http://sevaquarium.ru

  • Opening hours: daily from 10:00 to 17:30.

  • Cost: adults - 300 rubles, children under 6 years old, participants of the Great Patriotic War, disabled people of the 1st group, conscripts - free of charge. Ticket price includes photography.