Inside
What to see at the Oceanário de Lisboa
The central tank, the four habitats around it, and the animals worth slowing down for.
Check dates on Viator ↗The central tank
Around five million litres of seawater at the centre of the building, seven metres deep — enough for open-water swimmers to cruise above the bottom-dwellers. It holds roughly a hundred species on its own, including sharks, rays, barracudas, groupers and moray eels.
Four habitats, one shared view
A North Atlantic rocky coast with seabirds, an Antarctic coastline with penguins, a temperate Pacific kelp forest with the sea otters, and a tropical Indian Ocean coral reef — each separated from the central tank only by acrylic panels.
The ocean sunfish
The sunfish (Mola mola), a strangely flattened giant with demanding care needs, is kept by very few aquariums in the world; when it's on show in the main tank, it's worth pausing for rather than walking past.
The quieter corners
Beyond the headline tank, around 25 smaller themed aquariums show the life of each habitat in close-up, jellyfish among them — easy to rush past on a first visit.