Do you dare to walk under the skeleton of our sperm whale? And then across a bridge with a pond full of piranhas underneath? Dive into the wonderful underwater world of the Sea Aquarium in Bergen aan Zee! Stand eye-to-eye with our seals Selma and Tjark. And discover the most extraordinary fish, sea creatures and shells from all over the world!

The revamped and expanded Sea Aquarium showcases more than 300 different species of fish thematically: let yourself be taken through the Amazon jungle past piranhas and creepy reptiles, through the Atlantic Ocean, tropical waters and Mediterranean Sea to the North Sea and discover the most amazing fish and exciting sea creatures!

Marvel at our seahorses, starfish and clownfish, pet a ray at the Rays Reef and stand face to face with sharks, moray eels and venomous lionfish.Dive in, discover, experience, admire and marvel!

The Sea Aquarium is fun and educational for young and old, in good or bad weather.

The water
The water in aquariums is obviously very important for the fish that live in them. But seawater is a little different from water with salt. So fresh seawater is actually taken from the sea. This is done with the help of tankers that bring in seawater from Zeeland and by pumps that draw the water from the North Sea (right on our doorstep). The water is then first filtered and then cooled or heated, depending on the area in which it will be used.

The inhabitants
The aquariums have thousands of inhabitants divided into more than 230 species Here we should think of different life forms: for example, cuttlefish, lobsters, crabs, herrings, rays, sharks, piranhas, anemones, as well as unicellular organisms, plankton and krill that serve as food for the other fish.

Our shell collection
At the Bergen aan Zee Sea Aquarium you will find the largest shell collection in the Netherlands. More than 7,000 specimens are displayed in 42 showcases. It ranges from miniscule shells to the giant baptismal shell, in which a baby would easily fit

Four zones
The Sea Aquarium’s total of 44 aquariums can be roughly divided into four zones. This has to do with the residents’ habitat.

The cold zone (blue)
This includes aquariums with fish from the North Sea and northern cold seas.

The Temperate Zone (Yellow)
This is where marine inhabitants from the Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean belong

The tropical zone (Red)
The marine inhabitants of these seas like warmer water and are found in tropical seas.

Amazon (Green)
This zone differs from the others in that it is not really a sea, but a river area.

History

The first idea to start a marine aquarium came about in 1954. That led to the opening of Zee Aquarium Bergen aan Zee in 1956. The foundations of the Hotel Nassau demolished during WWII formed the basis of the new building. In the late 1960s, the building was expanded by building a restaurant on top, which was named Neptune.

In the late 1980s, the building was radically changed: the construction of apartments in the upper section turned Restaurant Neptune into Neptune Apartments. The Sea Aquarium was expanded, the entrance moved, and a mezzanine was created between the apartments and the Sea Aquarium. There came three retail units and a restaurant.

The Sea Aquarium continued to grow and in the late 1990s the Sea Aquarium was expanded to include several large-volume tanks, for example the North Sea tank and the Pirana tank.

Opening hours
April – September
daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

October – March
daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Address
Zee Aquarium Bergen aan Zee
Van der Wijckplein 16
1865 AP Bergen aan Zee

Phone : (072) 581 29 28
Telefax : (072) 581 82 14
Email : [email protected]

Ample private parking