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18/04/2006: "TAIWAN'S KING of FISH"

Freshwater type of gold fish about 3 kg in weight, happy, confident and well fed.

APRIL 29. President Chen Shui-bian presided yesterday over a ceremony in Pingtung County marking the opening of the Waters of the World museum -- the third section of the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium.

Virtual reality
Delighted and impressed with the virtual reality (VR) presentation of different water worlds around the globe from ancient times to the present, the president said that the museum is another example that not all build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects are rife with flaws and irregularities as some opposition politicians have claimed.

Chen noted that Taipei 101 -- the tallest building in the world -- is another BOT model that was a major project endorsed by him when he was Taipei mayor prior to 2000.

The Waters of the World museum is the first digitalized aquarium with VR presentations in the world.
The museum, which took more than two years to build and cost NT$2.7 billion (US$84.4 million), is a three-story building featuring four theme parks -- the Polar Region, the Kelp Forest, the Deep Sea and the Ancient Oceans.

In the Polar Region park, live penguins of different species are kept in a polar environment.

In the Kelp Forest, real kelp flourishes in giant water tanks. The kelp grows from tiny spores at a speed of 50cm per day in water. The tallest branch of kelp reaches 30m.

Deep sea
In the Deep Sea park, a giant VR sperm whale fights with a VR 18m squid in a deep sea teeming with luminous fish and other creatures.

In the Ancient Ocean park, creatures from 4.5 billion years ago are featured in a marine theater, allowing spectators a close-up experience of an ancient underwater world.

The National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, which attracts at least 2 million visitors a year, is the most important center for marine displays and education in Taiwan.