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Punta Arenas planning a world-class aquarium with over 90 Antarctic species Punta Arenas, extreme south of Chile, is planning and betting big, a future polar aquarium at the International Antarctic Center, CAI, exhibiting over 90 species from the austral ocean, and with four main sponsors, the Magallanes University, the Magallanes Region Government, the Chilean Antarctic Institute and the Chilean Science Ministry The CAI building complex will be located along the Magellan Strait corniche with all the necessary bio-securities to lodge in perfect Antarctic conditions live species such as fishes, crustaceans, mollusks, echinoderms, in a combination of science, exhibits, culture and tourism. The idea of such an Antarctic aquarium in the extreme south of Chile has been around for several decades and according to Ricardo Fagundez, head on the Chilean Antarctic Institute, the complex is to be an icon of modern architecture, science and culture, comparable to the best in the world, further helping to consolidate Punta Arenas as the natural access to Antarctica. Addressing the project won-t be an easy climb, given the many technical challenges in reproducing conditions to keep species, some of them highly sensitive, in the controlled environments. As it was informed since 2017 researchers and biologists have been developing prototypes of an experimental aquarium, learning to regulate temperature, salinity, feeding and behavior patterns. Apparently so far the experimental conditions already successfully host some forty species, some of them in captivity for over four years. But science, research, testing are not the only factors, CAI is also to become a cultural and educational tool, for schools, university students and all the different discipline activities linking Punta Arenas with other similar centers in the world. Museum exhibitions on the Antarctic echo-systems closely connected to the Austral Ocean and global climate will also be on display.. Likewise it can be said for the tourism industry, increasing the raft of sites and motives to visit Punta Arenas. CAI will have a covered area of 5.600 square meters, with state of the art labs, aquariums with over 90 species and 123 cubic meters of water circulating, and once it opens Punta Arenas will be a place where people can enjoy polar marine life in reproduced Antarctic habitats.
