Anglesey Sea Zoo
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| Anglesey Sea Zoo | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Interactive map of Anglesey Sea Zoo | |
| 53°09′51″N 4°16′44″W / 53.16417°N 4.27883°W | |
| Date opened | 1983[1] |
| Location | Near Brynsiencyn, Anglesey, Wales |
| No. of species | 150[2] |
| Annual visitors | 100,000[1] |
| Website | angleseyseazoo |
The Anglesey Sea Zoo (Welsh: Sw Môr Môn) is an aquarium and independent research and marine education centre on the south coast of Anglesey island in North Wales. Located just outside the village of Brynsiencyn, Anglesey Sea Zoo claims to be the largest aquarium in Wales and displays over 150 native species.[3]
The Anglesey Sea Zoo was opened in 1983 by David and Alison Lea-Wilson, who later founded the next door Halen Môn sea salt business.[4] As owners of a lobster wholesale business, they realized lobster tanks had become attractions in themselves.[1] In 2007 the attraction was sold to research ecologists who have since gone on to develop research and conservation projects based at the aquarium, as well as several community conservation initiatives.
Animals
The zoo hosts a conger eel, a shark pool, a kelp forest,[2] and runs the Lobster Hatchery of Wales. the zoo currently has two species of sea horses—the short snouted seahorse found around the UK and Mediterranean, and the drab seahorse found in the Red Sea.[5]
Conservation and Animal Rescue
The Anglesey Sea Zoo is a conservation zoo and tourist activity centre, involved in captive breeding programs and national and international consultancy. The zoo is one of the few places in the world that has been able to successfully breed and sustain native short-snouted seahorse.[6] Started in 1995 when a stranded striped dolphin was successfully rescued, the zoo now contains a rescue center for sick or stranded marine animals, including dolphins, whales, porpoises, seals, turtles, and seabirds. The rescue center is part of a network being created in the British Isles by the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR).[7]