The renovated aquarium will boast of features such as a fish spa, a touch tank and will also allow visitors to swim with the aquatic animals; now authorities are thinking of building another one at Worli too
Interested in seeing rare, endangered and beautiful fish? Then, there’s good news. Finally, the Taraporevala Aquarium at Marine Drive will be thrown open to the public in August or the second week of September. Renovations and work on the second-generation aquarium is in its final stages and the Rs 20-crore project is nearing completion.
New and improved: The Taraporevala Aquarium is the only aquarium in the city. The entry fee will be hiked to Rs 20, Rs 30 and Rs 50 from Rs 5, Rs 10 and Rs 15
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The state government said that they had to opt for a second-generation aquarium at Taraporevala owing to space constrains and the fact that it had only one acre to develop as per the renovation directives given by the High Court. The government said that each species of fish would be placed in different tanks and that an additional tank would be set up where visitors could swim with the fish.
The renovated Taraporevala Aquarium would also have a fish spa, which would house Garra Rufa fish -- u00a0 u00a0known to eat the dead skin off the feet. Other brand new features available at the aquarium would be a touch pool that would allow visitors to touch starfish, sea urchins and turtles. Officials said that there would be 16 tanks for marine life, nine for fresh water fish and 32 tanks for tropical fish.
However, visitors would have to fork out a little more than they did earlier to view marine life in all its glory. Compared to the past where they paid Rs 5, Rs 10 and Rs 15, visitors would now have to spend Rs 20, Rs 30 and Rs 50.
But, that’s not the only good news.u00a0Besides, the Taraporevala Aquarium, there are plans to build another fifth-generation aquarium under the public private partnership model or built-operate-transfer (BOT) model at Worli. Additionally, it will also have an oceanarium.
Commissioner of Fisheries Parag Jain Nanotiya said that initially the second aquarium was to be built at Malabar Hill but owing to space constraints and the presence of VVIPs, they opted for Worli. u00a0
Did you know?
The aquarium was built in 1951 with a donation ofu00a0Rs 2 lakh given by Mr and Mrs D B Taraporevala
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