Aquarium Areas
Anglesey Sea Zoo has around 40 tanks with amazing marine wildlife found in our own native British seas! Take a look at what you might find in the various rooms on your way around the aquarium!
Please note that although we try to keep this information up to date, we sometimes have to move animals around at short notice.
If you can’t find a certain animal or display, please don’t hesitate to ask a member of staff!
The Front Room
Our Front Room shows you what’s hiding under piers and harbours in the Pier Tank, with large flatfish camouflaging themselves against the bottom and swift grey mullet zooming around. Keep an eye out for the colourful cuckoo wrasse!
The cold-water tank is the lair of the Atlantic wolffish peering at passers-by from among the rocks – although grumpy-looking with large fangs, they are actually fairly docile creatures. The large open tank is home to our adult spiny lobsters – learn about their life cycle and our breeding project!
Crashing Wave
1 tonne of water is dumped down in this tank every 30 seconds or so! Don’t worry, you won’t get splashed!
No Bone Zone
No bones here! Discover incredible invertebrates like starfish, anemones, sea urchins, octopus and the mesmerising moon jellyfish! Did you know starfish have an eye at the end of each arm?
Breeding & Conservation
This is the home of many of our juvenile animals as well as some very strange creatures – you might spot young hermit crabs, baby fish, pipefish (relatives of seahorses!) or the visitor favourite, the Common cuttlefish! You’ll also learn about marine litter, conservation and Marine Protected Areas!
The Shipwreck
The dark and spooky wreck of the Seven Sisters is home to common shipwreck residents – the conger eels! Spot huge starfish, the spiny spider crabs, the cheeky tompot blennies and the quirky lumpsuckers, and discover the stories of wrecks in North Wales and artifacts found in them!
Food preparation area
This is where we prepare food for our animals. Check what’s on the menu today! You might even see one of our aquarists chopping up the day’s dinner for one of the big tanks…
Quarantine
In the tanks opposite the Lobster hatchery you’ll see new arrivals and juvenile animals waiting to go on display. We also use these tanks for housing ill or injured fish, or as temporary housing for fish while their usual tank is undergoing maintenance!
Lobster Hatchery
Conservation in action! Female European lobsters in the hatchery carry eggs under their tails until they hatch. Learn about the lobster life cycle and check out the adorable tiny baby lobsters who’ll eventually be released back into the sea to boost the local population!
British Seahorses
One of the visitor favourites, our seahorse exhibit is home to both species of British seahorse – the short-snouted seahorse (Hippocampus hippocampus) and the long-snouted seahorse (Hippocampus guttulatus.)
Learn all about the extraordinary lifestyle and reproduction of these amazing but vulnerable creatures, and the threats they face in the wild. If you’re lucky, you might even see a pregnant male during the spring/summer breeding season (yes, the males give birth!)
The Second Wave
Another big splash! Stay back or stand closer if you’re brave! The wave stirs the water for the stinging Snakelocks anemones and provides plenty of oxygen at the same time. Find the bright blue lobster hiding in its rocky lair – did you know the colour is found in only 1 out of 2 million European lobsters?
Shark & Ray Pool
Learn about British sharks and rays! Don’t expect to see large grey predators with huge teeth – sharks come in many different shapes and sizes! Our smallspotted catsharks and nursehounds are small bottom-dwelling nocturnal predators, so keep your eyes peeled and look underneath the grids under your feet as you make your way round, and you might spot an oblivious shark fast asleep. Our pool is also home to 3 species of British skates – thornback ray, small eyed ray and blonde ray. They are masters of camouflage!
If you look in the nursery tanks by the pool during the breeding season, you’ll find baby sharks wriggling inside their eggcases, as well as new hatchlings! Basking sharks are far too big for tanks, but our model basking shark is hard to miss – would you believe they grow even larger?
Big Fish Forest
Our largest tank has a kelp forest full of big fish. Take a seat and watch the hypnotic group of silvery sea bass and gilthead bream, find the orange and green ballan wrasse (did you know they change from female to male?), and spot the large spider crabs climbing the rock walls and hiding in caves. You can also take a closer look at our thornback rays, and you might even see their alien-like underside…
Rock Pools
Creatures you might find on the beach! Learn about life in rock pools, rocky shore zones and see if you can find the little blennies hiding among the colourful beadlet anemones!
