THE AQUARIUM AT THE WORLD MUSEUM, LIVERPOOL

Text and photographs by David Marshall

In the 1850's Mr. William Brown, a wealthy Liverpool merchant banker, provided the land and finance, in exchange for having the road on which the building would stand named after himself, to enable the building of a beautiful neo-classic building that would house Liverpool's largest collection of antiquities and wonders of the natural world. With the exception of re-building that followed the ravages of World War II, the building and its contents remained much the same until dramatic improvements at the start of this Century, which closed the building for a number of months, doubled the amount of display space and created a beautiful new atrium that was first opened to the public in 2005. It was at this point that the title World Museum was used for the first time.

In March 2010 Sue and I paid our first visit to this wonderful place, one of the best 'free days out' in the U.K., since the building was re-opened. The galleries, spread over several floors, are truly amazing and house, amongst many other things, the biggest collection of Ancient Egyptian artefacts outside of Cairo, a U.K. Commonwealth collection that is stunning, natural history presentations that include 'living bugs' and plants, beautifully crafted biotopes from the age of taxidermy, fossils and a planetarium. All of the floors are easily accessed, by either lift or stairs, and have their own educational and toilet facilities.

However, for the purpose of this article, we will concentrate on the Public Aquarium display that is situated on the first floor and dedicated to native and tropical marine life. To show the various aquarium displays, which vary greatly in size and shape, to their full advantage, much of the display area, but not the aquariums themselves, is dimly lit and gives you the impression that you are in a cavern (perhaps this is a reminder that the smaller aquarium, which then housed tropical freshwater fish and goldfish as well, we had first visited here was housed in the basement). Everywhere there are excellent information boards and loose-leaf books that contain information about the various themes and creatures on display.

As you enter the aquarium you find yourself standing next to a large cubed aquarium that is home to 'tropical predators' and here you can view Lyretail Grouper and various Lionfish. Moving on brings you to a wall in which three large and one small aquarium are home to tropical marine fish from the Indo-Pacific region. The displays, the quality and variety of fish (from young Clownfish through to large Bannerfish) on show and the clarity of the water etc. can only be described as 'stunning'.

Next come eleven displays classed as 'Local rocky shores'. Here you can see the wonders of local marine life. Magnifying equipment allows you to look at creatures as varied as Sea Bullheads, Stone King Crabs and Common Starfish in great detail.

On now to a larger display in which kelp is used as a background, in order to show just how glorious the colours of our native Wrasse are.

If I had to choose a highlight of the displays then for me it would be the large brackish display that had me speechless. A beautifully themed aquarium that is home to variously coloured Scats, Fingerfish and Archerfish, all of which are a living picture of health. The loving way in which all of the fish here are cared for is obvious. Thankfully, you can sit on a well-placed couch and just watch the various activity and inter-actions that go on in the aquarium.

The displays conclude with four large aquaria dedicated to life found around Anglesey. Of course no such aquaria would be complete without a display of Thornback Rays, while the Abyss houses some amazing Lumpfish.

Much thought and planning has gone into the aquarium at the World Museum. As you will already have guessed I was impressed by the displays and thoroughly enjoyed the time spent here.

What you require for a visit to the World Museum is a great deal of time. You can see everything in one day (as we did) but to see everything in detail you would, in all honesty, need a week.

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