Among the city’s many attractions is Aquaria KLCC, located beneath the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, which has drawn hordes of tourists since 2005.
It is one way to explore what the sea has to offer without getting wet, and its exhibits are a good way to lure kids – and adults – away from their devices for a good hour or two to learn about aquatic life.
In addition to being highly accessible, tickets are also reasonably priced and can be purchased online or via walk-ins. Here’s what you can expect from a visit to this oceanarium.
The exhibit that has the honour of welcoming guests is the Evolution Zone, where the piranha tank draws much attention.
Piranhas tend to get a bad rap in popular culture, often imagined to go into a murderous frenzy as they rip flesh from bone. Admittedly they are a pretty fearsome sight during feeding time, and visitors should be glad they are not in the tank with them.
The nearby Gene Pool offers a less chilling experience with far safer species: starfish, stingrays, and horseshoe crabs. The latter are living fossils, a species that has survived for an astounding 480 million years!
If you’re squeamish about reptiles and creepy crawlies, it might be a good idea for you to scurry through the next exhibit, The Stream.
Here, creatures that reside in and around streams are on display in their enclosures, with a bored-looking chameleon the first to greet visitors.
The subsequent enclosures house an array of insects, including hissing Madagascar cockroaches that you never want to see in your home.
Also in the same exhibit is the Otter Den, although on the day of FMT’s visit, these semiaquatic mammals made themselves scarce, with the only visible one banging away at the metal door demanding food. (How Malaysian.)
The next exhibit is called Shipwreck, highlighting the ecosystem that forms around sunken vessels off the nation’s coast. It is built to resemble the hull of a wooden sailing ship, and the aquariums have bits of broken porcelain and pottery to go with the theme.
Here, you can gape at corals and fish that live in deeper parts of the oceans, as eels leer back at you from the dark corners of their tanks.
Up next is the Deep Forest exhibit, which visitors enter by descending a staircase that wraps around a cylindrical tank of fish, giving you an idea of what life is like in the waters of the Amazon rainforest.
Here, giant arapaima and stingrays swim gracefully in their tanks, an awe-inspiring sight for visitors young and old.
Following this is The Coast, which, as the name implies, displays creatures one might find off the shores of Malaysia. A relatively small exhibit compared with the others, the highlight here are the mudskippers frolicking in their slimy homes.
A mini gift shop is located just after The Coast, with a booth where staff will take photos that you can opt to buy.
The pièce de résistance at Aquaria is undoubtedly the 90m transparent tunnel that is the Living Ocean exhibit. Visitors can choose to walk or take the slow-moving travelator to admire the many aquatic creatures, including the occasional turtle, swimming overhead.
Sharks are aplenty here, and guests can actually arrange to spend time in a cage surrounded by these fearsome creatures.
The Weird & Wonderful exhibit is true to its name, a small but interesting area dedicated to bioluminescent fish in tube tanks.
The last stop is Station Aquarius, where one can admire schools of jellyfish or herds of shy seahorses; after which, ascend the escalator to the gift shop, where you can walk away with a souvenir or two.
All in all, Aquaria is definitely worth a visit, especially if you have children. Who knows? You just might have a future oceanographer or marine biologist in your household!
Find out more by visiting the Aquaria KLCC website, and get your tickets here.
Aquaria KLCC
Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre,
Jalan Pinang, 50088 Kuala Lumpur
Opening hours: 10am-7pm daily