Santa Pola aquarium is the oldest in the Valencian Community, and it includes 9 large glass tanks containing flora and fauna from the Mediterranean Sea.
Its facilities are dedicated to showing part of the fauna and flora of the Mediterranean Sea, being in this way an important educational and recreational tool which introduces our closest maritime surroundings (the bay of Santa Pola and the Island of Tabarca). The water comes directly from the sea, and after processing it is brought to the aquarium.
The idea of keeping fish in captivity isancient. In Rome, Greece and above all in the Orient some species were kept in costal rocks, in ponds, lagoons or at the entrance of seas for leisure purposes or as food reserves.
Most of the species which the aquarium keeps were donated by the sailors of Santa Pola