Istanbul Aquarium

This guide to the Istanbul Aquarium starts with the Bosphorus itself, the narrow strait that has shaped the city for three thousand years, then follows the aquarium's own sixteen themed zones as they trace those same waters outward from the Black Sea toward the Aegean and beyond. Along the way it lingers in the Giants of the Ocean hall, where a sixteen-meter sperm whale skeleton hangs overhead as part of Turkey's first major marine mammal collection. You'll also hear how the aquarium's eight thousand tons of water are kept in a sealed loop, apart from the struggling sea just outside.