Qingdao Underwater World Introduction and Features

Qingdao Underwater World allows you to experience the wonders and colors of marine life. Taking your children there will allow them to have a deeper understanding of the ocean, making it a meaningful attraction. Below is an introduction to Qingdao Underwater World and its features.

I. Introduction

Qingdao Underwater World is a national 4A-level tourist scenic spot and a national science popularization education base. The scenic spot is located on the coast of Huiquan Bay in Qingdao, adjacent to Lu Xun Park and the First Bathing Beach. It is a landmark scenic spot on the golden tourist coastline of Qingdao between the Pier and Badaguan, becoming a classic tourist attraction representing Qingdao’s “red tiles, green trees, blue sea and blue sky”.

Qingdao Underwater World was built on the basis of China’s first aquarium—Qingdao Aquarium (built in 1932). The scenic spot includes seven exhibition halls: Dream Jellyfish Palace, Marine Life Hall, Seal Hall, Freshwater Life Hall, Whale Hall, Underwater World, and Marine Science and Technology Hall. It integrates marine tourism sightseeing and science popularization education, bringing together the richness and diversity of marine life. Here, you can see about 2,000 categories and more than 20,000 rare marine biological specimens; you can admire thousands of species and tens of thousands of rare marine creatures from all over the world, such as the 4-meter-long South African sand tiger shark, the 2-meter-diameter black spotted stingray known as the “devil fish”, etc.; there is also an 82.6-meter-long underwater tunnel.

II. Featured Attractions

Romantic Jellyfish Palace

If there is a kind of deep-sea creature that can be described as “mysterious” and “beautiful”, it must be the graceful and gorgeous jellyfish family. Covered in water and crystal clear, jellyfish gracefully and freely dance in the blue sea.

Qingdao Aquarium is China’s first aquarium. On the occasion of its 75th anniversary, Qingdao Aquarium and Qingdao Underwater World Scenic Spot transformed it into the first professional jellyfish exhibition hall in mainland China.

The Dream Jellyfish Palace exhibits dozens of species and thousands of jellyfish, most of which are imported from abroad, and some are bred by Underwater World itself. The main exhibition varieties include moon jellyfish, ribbon jellyfish, upside-down jellyfish, fire jellyfish, flower hat jellyfish, colored jellyfish, and jellyfish. They float in the water, like flowers blooming in a garden, competing for beauty and brilliance; they are also like parachutes floating in the air, graceful and charming. These crystal clear creatures will use their silky arms to lead you into a dreamy blue world.

Performance Hall

The Underwater World Performance Hall is the birthplace of miracles.

Here, there are mermaids swimming among the corals, creating one dream after another; there are also divers swimming with sharks, and even their new friend, the “golden pompano”, swims in groups around them! In addition to these, there is also the super exciting “Underwater Liang Zhu”, which combines legend with the blue sea, recreating and witnessing the beautiful love story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai in this vast blue… The upgraded version of “Human-Shark Dance” and “Dream Mermaid” also have extra performances, with as many as 10 performances throughout the day!

Underwater Tunnel

The nearly 100-meter underwater tunnel separates various kinds of fish swimming back and forth through acrylic glass.

The best way to get close to marine animals is to walk through the underwater tunnel. It houses tens of thousands of marine creatures. Looking up at the various fish will make you feel like you are swimming freely in the air, just like watching birds soaring freely in the sky. Through the acrylic glass of the underwater tunnel, we can see various sharks: including nurse sharks, leopard sharks, blacktip sharks, whitetip sharks, and so on.

“Digital Biology” Theme Exhibition

One gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, three gives birth to all things.

Various marine creatures in the Underwater World also showcase their beauty of life through unique digital expressions, combined with colors, patterns, and other expressive symbols.

1. One-Word Pendant

Orange-spotted surgeonfish, belonging to the bony fish class, has a long, bright orange spot behind its eyes, looking like a large “one”.

2. Bicolor Triggerfish

Commonly known as stone beauty, bony fish class, with blue and pale yellow body.

3. Three-Line Rocket

Belongs to the bony fish class, with a long and narrow mouth, a white body with orange vertical stripes, and black edges on the stripes.

4. Four-Wheel Drive Goby

Double-spotted goby, belonging to the bony fish class, with three irregular brown stripes on the lower half of its body.

5. Five-Spotted Finch

Six-line damselfish, bony fish class. Mainly inhabits shallow coastal waters, reefs, or coral reefs, often gathering in groups.

6. Six-Spotted Pufferfish

Named after the six round spots on the back of its body, bony fish class. It feeds on crustaceans and so on.

7. Rainbow Pendant

Japanese surgeonfish, inhabiting clear lagoons and reef areas facing the sea, feeding on algae, with charming body color.

8. Eight-Line Fox

Bony fish class, with an orange-red body, 7-8 purple or purplish-brown longitudinal stripes, and orange-yellow spots on the head.

9. Nine-Tooth Fan Shrimp

Commonly known as slipper lobster, belonging to the arthropod phylum, like a warrior wearing armor.

10. African Ten-Spot

Bony fish class. The body is spindle-shaped, the ventral fins are relatively long, and the body color is gray-white. It belongs to the mouth-brooding fish.

11. Thousand-Hand Guanyin

Belongs to the bony fish class, with a silvery gray body and two dorsal fins, mainly distributed in South Asia.

12. Spindle Shell

Belongs to the mollusk phylum, one of the four famous shells in the world, with white and coffee red longitudinal stripes crisscrossing the entire shell.