At the southern tip of Taiwan, where the island narrows into the tropical peninsula of Kenting National Park, sits the country’s biggest window on the ocean. The National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium (NMMBA) in Pingtung County holds 24.14 million liters of seawater, which makes it the tenth entry on our list of the largest aquariums in the world and by far the largest aquarium in Taiwan.
NMMBA is more than an aquarium. It is a national museum and a working marine-biology research institution rolled into one 58.8-hectare campus, with two research buildings and a marine station operating alongside the public exhibit halls.
Key Stats
| Total water volume | 24.14 million liters (6.4 million US gal) |
| Volume in exhibit tanks | 15.53 million liters |
| Opened | February 25, 2000 |
| Location | Checheng Township, Pingtung County, Taiwan (Kenting National Park) |
| Species | About 600 species and 12,000 animals on display |
| Signature tank | Main Coral Tank – 4.07 million liters |
| Underwater tunnel | 82.5 m (271 ft), one of the largest in Asia |
From 1991 Plan to National Aquarium
Planning for a national marine museum began in 1991, and NMMBA opened its doors on February 25, 2000. The museum occupies 35.8 hectares of a 58.8-hectare park that also contains the largest outdoor water park in Taiwan. In 2004 the museum joined forces with National Dong Hwa University to establish a College of Marine Sciences and a Graduate Institute of Marine Biology on site, the first academic partnership of its kind between a university and a museum in Taiwan.
The split between showcase and science runs deep here. Beyond the 600 or so species in the public galleries, the museum’s off-exhibit husbandry areas and outdoor pools hold roughly 160 more species and some 30,000 individual animals used for research, propagation and conservation work.
Three Worlds of Water
The public side of NMMBA is organized into three big pavilions. Waters of Taiwan follows the island’s water from mountain rivers and reservoirs down through the intertidal zone to the open sea, ending at a 3.8-million-liter open-ocean tank viewed through a 16.1 by 4.1 meter acrylic window. Its residents include yellowfin tuna, spotted eagle rays, nurse sharks and even a whale shark.
The Coral Kingdom Pavilion descends through coral reef habitats from sunlit shallows to deeper water, complete with a sunken ship and an 82.5-meter underwater tunnel with a moving walkway, one of the longest in Asia. The tunnel ends at the aquarium’s four beluga whales, which can be watched underwater or from a viewing pavilion above. Waters of the World rounds things out with a journey through ancient oceans, kelp forests and polar waters.
Visiting NMMBA
The aquarium sits inside Kenting National Park, about a two-hour drive south of Kaohsiung, and pairs naturally with a beach day on the Hengchun Peninsula. The Main Coral Tank, at 4.07 million liters, is the single largest tank in the building, but the belugas and the whale shark in the open-ocean tank are the crowd magnets. Arrive early: the museum is one of southern Taiwan’s most popular attractions, and tour groups fill the tunnel by mid-morning.
FAQ
How big is the National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium?
The aquarium holds 24.14 million liters of seawater in total, with 15.53 million liters in its exhibit tanks. That total volume makes it one of the ten largest aquariums in the world.
Does the aquarium have beluga whales?
Yes. Four beluga whales live in the Coral Kingdom Pavilion, where an underwater viewing tunnel and an above-water pavilion let visitors watch them from two angles.
Where exactly is NMMBA located?
It is in Checheng Township, Pingtung County, at the southern tip of Taiwan, inside Kenting National Park, roughly two hours by road from Kaohsiung.
Photo: Matt’s Life via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)