The Santos Municipal Aquarium, a public aquarium and the oldest aquarium in Brazil, has been listed in the Guinness World Record since 1995. The Aquarium occupies an area of 3,000 m², 2,214 of which are open to visitors.
It was inaugurated on July 2, 1945, in the presence of the then President of Brazil, Getúlio Vargas. The park is a pioneer in conservation projects for the sea and its inhabitants: it was the first Brazilian institution to rescue and recover marine animals.
All the tanks and aquariums are equipped with sets that reproduce the animals' natural habitats. In the freshwater tanks, river bottom environments have been created with branches, foliage, roots and ravines. Saltwater fish swim in rocky environments. The ocean tank mimics the seabed of the Brazilian coast.
In the moray eel tank, which prefer to remain hidden, PVC pipes were used to create crevices in the rocks. The Amazon tank reproduces a flooded forest, while the sea lion and penguin enclosures were transformed into the rocky landscape of Patagonia. One environment that has become very different is the Asian aquarium.
With the "ruins" of an underwater temple in Asia, it is the only one that does not depict a natural environment. The scenic work was conceived by set designer Renato Ribeiro, with the help of the Aquarium's technical team and photographic research.
To create the sets, Ribeiro worked with six artists, specialists in modeling, sculpture and painting, who used resin, fiberglass, powdered sand, non-toxic paint, cement, PVC and other materials.
For the larger tanks, such as the penguin tank, the sea lion enclosure, and the oceanic and Amazonian tanks, the scenographer built miniatures of the environment to be reproduced, to facilitate discussion of the project with the Aquarium teams and the contractor.
