Search

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

Journey into the Deep Sea

Much of the deep sea remains veiled in secrecy. We invite you to travel deep into the mysterious sea awash with thrills and excitement.

  1. Home
  2. Aquarium Area Guide
  3. Journey into the Deep Sea
  4. Deep Sea World

The deep-sea world in depth of 200 meters

Deep Sea

Photographs from 'Deep Sea World'

This is the world of the deep sea with water depths of 200 meters or more. Here you can meet rare creatures such as the blacksail snake mackerel and Ruby Snapper, which are difficult to raise in captivity.

Marine life found in this area

Must-see Points

The Deep Sea Corner also has feeding presentations
All of the information on the creatures' feeding habits can't be covered in the pamphlet. Luckily, a special feeding takes place three times a week in the largest tank in the Deep Sea Corner. Aquarium staff will be there to give details, so you don't want to miss it! Although they sometimes make an appearance at dinnertime, massive conger eels and giant crab rarely show themselves at the sea surface. If you catch sight of one at the aquarium, consider yourself very lucky.

Churaumi Column

The coloring of deep-sea fish
Although most of the fish that swim around the deep sea corner are colored black or red, some, like the ornate jobfish and garish hind are yellow. When looking into the tank, it might be fun to spare a moment wondering why the fish are this color, even though they inhabit deep regions of sea where almost no light penetrates.
Are the tanks pressurized?
The simple answer to this is that none of our exhibition tanks are pressurized in any special way. When fish are brought to the surface from the deep sea, their eyes and stomach will be bulging out. After being treated in a special 'pressure tank', the fish make their debut in one of the exhibition tanks. In other words, the fish you see before you in the Deep Sea Corner are all hardy individuals that are well equipped to deal with pressure changes and treatment.
The long Journey into the Deep Sea tanks...
Picture of a pressurized tankPicture of a blacksail snake mackerelThe Journey into the Deep Sea... With its dim lighting, you would think it would be hard to spot anything in this corner. But don't forget there are many extremely rare animals to be found. So then, how do you think these creatures managed to find their way to this tank? Believe it or not, all these animals were either caught on a line at sea or were collected using box snares or robots.
One fish you will find in the Deep Sea World tank is the blacksail snake mackerel, a fish with a silvery body and sharp teeth. Blacksail snake mackerel are caught with a special fishing line fitted with a wire traces to prevent it biting though the line. After they are caught, they are moved very carefully into the tank, making sure not even a single finger comes into their range.
The eyes and stomachs of almost all fish that are brought up from the deep sea expand due to the change in pressure that occurs. When the fish are brought on board ship, they are immediately given a kind of fish first-aid, following which they are brought to the center for thorough treatment and feeding. Once they have got used to their new environment, they are brought out for everybody to see. As you can see, it's a long journey from the deep sea to Churaumi Aquarium!

 

*Please note that there are reading mistake.