ADVENTURES
The Shore Oceanarium Melaka
Where Melaka Take You On An Underwater Journey
By Philemon Foo
This place is educational and fun… The Shore Oceanarium, tucked away on the second floor of The Shore Shopping Gallery beside the Melaka River, where the historical city suddenly decides that perhaps it has had enough of forts, colonial buildings, and people taking photographs of chicken rice balls, coconut shake, cendol, Nyonya food, and the A’Famosa.
Here, the fish are the celebrities. The Shore Oceanarium describes itself as an interactive journey through Earth’s ecosystems, bringing visitors from land to sea and introducing them to a surprisingly entertaining collection of creatures along the way. It is not simply a case of walking past glass tanks while pretending to be fascinated by something called a “mysterious bottom-dwelling species”. There is considerably more going on.
The Shore Oceanarium is located at 2F-01 of The Shore Shopping Gallery, right in the centre of Melaka. Official information describes the attraction as an educational and interactive experience covering both marine and terrestrial environments. And this is where things get interesting. Fish, forests and the occasional “What on earth is that?”
The Oceanarium takes you through different environments, allowing you to encounter creatures from freshwater and marine ecosystems while learning about the environments they inhabit. There are touch-pool experiences too. This is an excellent idea because children generally believe that everything in the universe exists specifically for them to touch. Adults, meanwhile, tend to approach the touch pool with the caution of someone handling an unexploded device.
Visitors get to touch some of the fishes in a touch pool. What an awesome educational experience.
The attraction has featured creatures such as starfish, sea cucumbers, sea urchins and bamboo sharks in its interactive experiences, giving visitors the opportunity to get much closer to marine life than they normally would. And then there is Jungle Quest, where the adventure moves away from the sea and into the world of reptiles and other creatures. This is one of the things that makes the experience more interesting for families. You are not simply looking at fish. You are moving through a broader story about ecosystems and biodiversity.
The Magical Vacuum Aquarium
Now, this sounds like something Harry Potter would have ordered from a suspicious-looking catalogue. But the Magical Vacuum Aquarium is a real feature. The Shore Oceanarium describes it as Malaysia’s first “Magical Vacuum Aquarium”, forming part of its interactive zone.
And then things become even more futuristic. The Oceanarium incorporates 3D experiences into its educational journey, with displays designed to bring environments and species closer to visitors. Among the examples highlighted by the Oceanarium are the mangroves of the Melaka River, the Pahang rainforest and the Sungai Perak, as well as fossil stones, and extinct fish presented through 3D displays.
A starfish at the Oceanarium. Not many get to see them in the wild.
There is also a 3D presentation called A Turtle’s Adventure, which adds environmental effects including wind, bubbles, smoke and lightning. Which raises an important question. Why does a turtle get better special effects than most of us get on our birthdays? It is actually rather clever. The great thing about places like this is that children rarely realise they are learning.
Tell a child, “Today we’re going to study marine biodiversity,” and you may as well have announced three hours of tax accounting. Tell them, “Come and see a shark,” and suddenly they are dressed and standing by the door before you have found your car keys. The Shore Oceanarium uses that curiosity as the doorway to education.
These “disco” clams emit lights… neon lights. How amazing are they?
The attraction presents marine and terrestrial ecosystems through interactive displays, 3D experiences and encounters with living creatures. Its stated aim is to make the journey educational, entertaining and memorable. And that matters because the ocean is enormously important, yet for most of us it remains an invisible world. We see the surface. We occasionally see a fishing boat. We may eat something from it while sitting in a restaurant and confidently announce that it is delicious.
But beneath that surface is an entire universe. There are creatures that glow, creatures that camouflage themselves, creatures that look as though somebody designed them after staying awake for three consecutive nights, and creatures that have survived for millions of years. An oceanarium gives us a tiny window into that world. A little education with your holiday
What’s a tarantula doing in an oceanarium? There is a section that showcases creatures that call the jungle home.
Melaka is brilliant because you can spend the morning walking through centuries of history and the afternoon discovering creatures that have been around far longer than the buildings you have just photographed. That makes The Shore Oceanarium an interesting addition to a Melaka itinerary. It is also indoors and this is not a minor detail. Anyone who has spent an afternoon wandering around Melaka under the tropical sun understands the importance of air-conditioning as a civilisation-changing invention.
When the weather becomes brutally hot, or the heavens decide to empty themselves over the city, an indoor attraction becomes less of an optional extra, and more of a strategic survival facility.
The Oceanarium sits beside the Melaka River, within The Shore Shopping Gallery, making it relatively easy to combine with other attractions around the city. You can look at fish. You can learn something. You can escape the rain. You can allow the children to burn off some energy. And, most importantly, nobody needs to ask you to climb another hill.
A cute turtle. Every oceanarium needs to have turtles. They are unique, and cute creatures. Kids like them. Adults like them. Just don’t put your finger in their mouths.
But there is something else here… The real attraction is not the tanks. It is the sense of discovery. There is something wonderfully humbling about standing in front of a creature that has absolutely no idea who you are. It does not care about your job. It does not care about your social-media followers. It does not care whether you are wearing the right shoes. It simply swims, and suddenly you are reminded that the planet does not belong exclusively to humans. We merely behave as though it does.
An oceanarium can therefore be more than a place to take photographs. It can be a small reminder of the extraordinary variety of life sharing this planet with us. And perhaps that is the most valuable lesson of all.
There are many verities of prawns. Most are not seen in the wild.
So, Should You Go?
If you are visiting Melaka with children, absolutely consider it. If you are interested in marine life, nature, or photography, there is plenty to explore. If you are travelling with someone who becomes dramatically less cheerful whenever the Malaysian weather turns into a wet towel thrown from the sky, it is also worth considering.
The Oceanarium is not pretending to be the largest aquarium on Earth. It does not need to. Its strength is in making marine and terrestrial life accessible, interactive and entertaining, while adding educational elements such as its 3D experiences and interactive displays. And sometimes that is exactly what a good attraction should do. It should make you curious. It should make you smile. It should make a child stare at a fish and ask approximately 47 questions in under two minutes. And perhaps, if it is really successful, it should make the adults ask a few questions too, because somewhere beneath the surface of the sea is a world we barely understand.
A giant grouper swimming about in a large glass tank.
At The Shore Oceanarium, you get to peek through the glass. Don’t be surprised if you come out wanting to know considerably more about what lies beneath it. And if you suddenly develop an uncontrollable desire to buy a fish tank for your living room afterwards, remember this was never my responsibility. I merely showed you a place that has lots of fish.
Visitor Information
The Shore Oceanarium is located on Level 2 of The Shore Shopping Gallery, at 193, Jalan Persisiran Bunga Raya, Melaka. The Oceanarium’s official contact information lists +606-2829966.
Opening hours: 10:30 am–7:00 pm (do call before making your trip)
Google Maps to The Shore Oceanarium Melaka.
