Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea, which is often dubbed as ‘marine expo’, presents rare opportunities to meet exotic and rare marine life.

Let’s venture into Korea’s largest aquarium. The huge aquarium showcases a host of eye-catching marine life, some of whom can be good ‘friends’ with visitors

Friend 1 – Belugas (White Sturgeons)

Beluga is nicknamed the “canary of the sea” due to its high-pitched twitter. Belugas attract visitors with their bulging foreheads and big smiles. If you listen carefully to belugas, you would hear their unique voices. They also perform tricks, such as blowing air doughnuts.

Friend 2 – Baikal Seals

Baikal seals that live only in the waters of Lake Baikal have come to Yeosu. It is said that inviting Baikal seals that have only a few members left was never an easy task. The Baikal seal is the only freshwater seal in the world that lives in Lake Baikal located in southeastern Siberia. The first-ever exhibition of Baikal seals in Korea, which provides a fascinating glimpse of them, will present visitors an unforgettable experience.

Friend 3 – Silver Sardines

Giant schools of silver sardines moving together as one will give visitors a thrilling experience. Tens of thousands of sardines swirling around their prey light up a fish tank as bright as a huge silver ball.
They sometimes swim in circles and make a ‘sardine tornado’ to divers’ signal. The huge silver sardine wave will fascinate visitors.

Friend 4 – Otters

Otters that love to play can be very good friends to kids. The unique structure of Aquarium that links a front fish tank with another one at the center gives unique experience where humans can communicate with otters. This also gives children a chance to have a closer look at otters to learn the way they live.

Friend 5 - Jackass Penguins

Break with conventional wisdom that penguins live only in the northern and southern hemisphere. Jackass penguins, widely known for its donkey-like bray, live in Africa. Waddling penguins are so cute that it takes only a second to catch the eyes of children visiting the aquarium. Jackass penguins, often referred to as the cutest penguin of its kind, are mascots of Aquarium and they are the most popular with our visitors.

Friend 6 – Seahorses

Seahorses are an epidemic species that live in the eastern waters of Australia. They have long snouts and the appearance of seaweed. Their looks vary depending on sex and age. What makes a seahorse unique is that a male seahorse has a pouch into which a female seahorse lays her eggs. Then, the male fertilizes the eggs and takes care of them.

Friend 7 – Otarias (South American Sea Lion)

Otaria, which means a “small ear”, can make a variety of sounds depending on its sex and age, so their age and sex can be figured out with the sounds. They are dubbed as a sea lion since they have manes on the neck and howl like a lion. Otaria shows will give children an enjoyable experience.

If you go to see Garra rufa, or doctor fish as they're known to most of the world, you will have an unforgettable experience. Put your hands into the Garra rufa tank, and a shoal of doctor fish will waggle around and nibble away at your feet and get them clean. Visitors can also put their heads into a glass tube inside the tank to get a 360-degree view of the Garra rufa tank.

Aquarium is also home to more than 34,000 fish of 300 species or so. If you walk into the main tank whose ceiling and other two sides are surrounded by fish tanks, you will feel as if you were in the middle of the ocean. Various species of fish swimming across fish tanks that stand right next to you will remind you of the myth of Atlantis that sunk into the ocean.