Bergen Aquarium (Akvariet i Bergen)

Bergen, Norway, was the European City of Culture for the year 2000. It is a mixture of mostly modern buildings with some 18th century wooden building situated in the harbour area. Perched on the side of the 320 metre high Mount Floyen are streets with a wide variety of Nordic house styles. The Floyenbanen Funicular acts as a rapid transit system for these places as well as taking tourists to the top of Mount Floyen where there is a restaurant, gift shop, wooded walks and a fantastic view of the city.
Like most Norwegian cities, Bergen is cut off from the rest of Norway by fjords and mountains. This makes traveling around Norway expensive, however there are extensive plane, train and ferry routes to suit all needs. Getting to Norway is easy.  Ferry services from a number of ports around the country take you into the heart of Bergen. Newcastle airport has flights to Stavanger (now Begen) airport everyday then you can take one of the many internal flights, or a high-speed ferries to Bergen.
Bergen Aquarium is one of the major attractions of this city with over a quarter of a million visitors a year. No matter what time of the year you visit there always seems to be school groups and many local visitors. The reason for its popularity is easy to see, its surroundings park, woodland, picnic areas, fantastic view of the fjord and its surrounding mountains make it a major leisure area in the city. Central Bergen is situated on a peninsular jutting out into Byfjorden; the Aquarium is the last building on this peninsular and therefore easy to find.
The present day aquarium is the second to have stood on this site the first was built in 1892 and closed 1916. In 1950, plans were made to build a new aquarium to:

 “provide the public with a representative exhibition of Norwegian marine fauna and an educational introduction to marine life”

 It took 8 years research and a further 2 years building before the aquarium was opened in 1960. Since then it has become an integral part of Bergen University’s Marine Biology department.
You enter the Aquarium into an open area containing the gift shop, two large seal pools and a children’s play area. The gift shop must have one of the best collections of high quality gifts and books I have seen in any similar establishment. Unfortunately, none of the books were in English, but you could pick up a post card with real Polar Bear fur in a plastic bubble or Wolf-fish Fish skin similarly packaged. Other items included carved wooden animals and locally crafted items.
Outside of the gift shop is a large pool containing Grey Seals and a range of penguins. The pool is built into a naturally occurring rocky outcrop which gives an authentic look when viewed through the large front windows. The second seal pool has an uninspiring tiled construction that can only be view through windows inside the main building.
The main building has displays on three floors. The basement contains two open-topped, floor-level tanks about 3 feet high. Nordic sharks and rays inhabit the smaller. There are no worries about a James Bond style ending here because the sharks are harmless Lesser-spotted Dogfish. The much larger “Bay Aquarium” has an excellent collection of Atlantic Sea fish, invertebrates and kelps. Species include Wolf-fish Coalfish, Cod, wrasses, starfish and urchins. 
African Longfin Tetras (Brycinus longipinnis)
Up the spiral staircase to the next floor brigs you into the lecture theatre and on into “The Labyrinth” a collection of over 40 tanks leading you through the evolution and diversity of fish species. Exhibit one is a bank of tanks containing modern fish showing their evolution. These specimens ranged from the primitive jawless Hagfish to the much more advanced carps. 

Black Diamond Cichlid (Partilapia polleni)
Then follows a twisting route through another 41 tanks of all shapes and sizes showing fish from all continents, seas and freshwater. Some of the exhibits were outstanding: the rainbowfish tank contained only very large and very colourful Glossolepis incisus, and the 6ft x 5ft Piranha tank had about 100 prime condition fish. Other notable exhibits were the Vendace, a lake variety of the Arctic Char; a tank containing a breeding population of the marine 15-spined stickleback; a tidal rockpool tank where the inhabitants got a right battering ever 5 minutes from artificial waves and a range of tanks with prime quality tropical marine fish.
Up another spiral staircase into the exhibition hall and guess what? It was “The Missing Link” an exhibition shown at Hancock’s museum an few years back. Still, it was very interesting.
Out into the main entrance past the inevitable touch pool (containing some very fierce Velvet Swimming Crabs) and into the “Rotunda”. This is a very special place, a circular room surrounded by 9 very large themed aquaria depicting every aspect of the marine life around Norway. Water for these tanks is drawn from a depth of 200 metres below the surface of the fjord outside. This cold, crystal clear, well oxygenated water enables many types of large specimens to be kept together and also is essential in the well being of the deep-water fish rarely seen on display elsewhere.
Aquarium 1, The Cod Family
There is a very good historical reason for this being the first aquarium, Bergen’s trading past was based on fishing and especially dried cod and cod liver oil. As well a “King Cod”, as they were known, the other two common members of the cod family; Coalfish and Pollack, were also on display. In particular, the Coalfish made a stunning display with their unusually large size, slate-grey backs and pure white lateral lines and bellies. All of 
the fish in this tank were over 3 feet long, well fed and showing very good colour – to good 
to eat. A similar display could be seen in the crystal clear water of the harbour a few hundred meters away.
 

Aquarium 2, Under the Quay
Tank two contained fish and invertebrates found under the jetty at Bergen. A mixture of beautifully coloured Cuckoo Wrasse, Ballan Wrasse and Rainbow Wrasse swam around a diorama of rocks, lobster pots and wooden jetty beams. Other inhabitants were the aptly named Lumpsuckers, and a range of starfish and sea urchins.
Aquarium  3, On the Sandbed
Next door was the sandy seabed exhibit containing a varied collection of common and not so common flatfish. Flounders, Dabs and Plaice made up the bulk of species but some of the more unusual were represented by Turbot, Lemon Sole and the Topknot. Mid-water swimmers such as Grey Gurnard filled the space between the sandy bed and the surface.
Aquarium  4, Pelagic Fish
The pelagic exhibit contained an unbelievably large number of mid-water fish such as Mackerel, Horse Mackerel, Herring and Sprats swirling in unison around the tank.
Aquarium  5, By Stromme Bridge.
In this tank is a comprehensive collection of invertebrate life found living in the tide swept narrows between Nordasvannet and Grimstadtfjorden to the south of Bergen. Most striking are the sea anemones, with their wide variety of size, shape and colours. Lots of small fish were present also, but these are mostly lost in the rocks and the vastness of the exhibit area.
Aquarium 6, Salmon and Halibut.
Fish farming is the theme here. Two species being farmed in quantity around Norway’s coast are Atlantic Salmon and the Halibut. Salmon needs no introduction but few people will have seen the enormous, predatory flounder-like Halibut. These fish were only tiddlers of only 3-4 feet - they can grow to over 8 feet, weight 600lbs and live for 60 years. Viewing flatfish of this size it was plain too see their ancestry of a sea-perch type fish. If you fly into Bergen, lots of circular enclosures of fish farms can be seen
Aquarium  7, From 200m Depth
This tank had the deep-water member of the cod family, Ling, Torsk, Cusk and Haddock. Also present were two deep-water flatfish the Long Rough Dab and the Witch.




Aquarium  8—From 200m Depth
This second deep-water tank had a reconstruction of the extensive coral reefs surrounding Norway. It’s hard to believe that coral grows in such abundance in these cold climes. These are the slow growing corals of the cold, deep northern Atlantic which cannot be compared to their tropical coral reefs counterparts. These corals are low growing and form only a slight encrustation on the rocks. Two red Norway Haddocks (no relation to our Haddocks) brought some movement and colour into an otherwise gloomy display.
Aquarium  9—Skates Sharks and Conger Eels
More big fish. The skates and rays were spectacular, but the sharks consisted of small Spurdogs. I searched hard but could not find a single Conger.
All in all, Bergen Aquarium has and excellent display of rare and unusual fish. Mostly these fish are nearly fully-grown and in tip-top condition. I would say it is well worth a visit and ranks highly amongst public aquaria.
You can have Visit or have a virtual tour of the aquarium at:

Akvariet i Bergen
Nordnesbakken 4
5005 Bergen, Norway
+47 55 55 71 71
www.akvariet.no/

OTHER FISHY EXHIBITIONS IN BERGEN.
Bergen fish market is situated at the end of the harbour just 100 metres from the Tourist Information Office. Here large granite vats are used to house a variety of live sea fish and shellfish. These vats use the same system as the Aquarium to keep their fish healthy. Water is drawn from the harbour and pumped into the vats which in turn drain the water back into the harbour. This constant flow keeps the occupants healthy and enables the fishmonger to lock the vats at night and keep the fish alive for many days. Some of the species encountered here included Anglerfish, Cod, Ling, Lumpsuckers, Edible Crabs and Lobsters. The market is open every day except Sunday.
Another free show is the harbour itself; the water is clear down to a depth of at least 20 feet and fish such as Cod can be seen swimming over the bottom. The harbour walls are covered in mussels, many orange-coloured starfish and grey sea urchins that can be seen feeding on the mussels.
Bergen’s natural history museum houses a large collection of fish exhibits in traditional wood and glass cases. The exhibits are more than a quick trip through the species, they try to educate on the life cycle and biology of fish, also The Museum has limited opening hours (11am - 2 p.m. during winter) so it is best to check at the Tourist Information Office before making the climb to the museum.