---
node: spot_sharjah_sharjah_aquarium
type: spot
slug: sharjah_aquarium
destination: dest_sharjah
title: "Sharjah Aquarium"
lead: "Sharjah Aquarium shows the marine life of the emirate's own coasts — reef sharks, rays, clownfish and seahorses — in twenty tanks arranged as local habitats. It shares a building with the Sharjah Maritime Museum."
published: 2026-08-12
updated: 2026-08-12
image_file: spot_sharjah_sharjah_aquarium.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sharjah_Aquarium_Park_-_panoramio.jpg"
image_author: "Jaseem Hamza"
image_license: "CC BY 3.0"
---

## Overview

The tanks follow the water from the lagoon and mangrove through the rocky shore to the open Gulf, which makes the aquarium a guide to what is actually outside rather than a global collection. The maritime museum next door holds pearling equipment, dhows and the diving gear used before the trade collapsed in the 1930s when Japanese cultured pearls reached the market. The two together explain the coast this city was built on.

## Highlights

Do both halves on the one ticket; the pearling section is the more surprising of the two. Feeding times are posted at the entrance and are worth timing a visit around. It is at Al Khan, ten minutes from the centre, and is a good hour when the afternoon is too hot for anything outdoors.