Visitors at the Jura Museum in the Willibaldsburg in Eichstätt can once again marvel at the coral reef, unrivaled in Bavaria in its huge size and great number of species. The original aquarium had been in use since the opening of the museum in 1976 and was in urgent need of replacement. The new tank now has an even larger capacity of almost 7000 liters. With its large glass surfaces it gives visitors a real insight into the tropical coral landscape. Young visitors to the museum can now better admire the more than 60 different species of corals, saltwater fish, sea urchins and other reef dwellers. Gazing into the aquarium takes you on a time travel back to the world of 150 million years ago, when the fossils now exhibited in the museum roamed land and sea. At that geological era - the Jurassic - a vast seascape with islands, riffs and lagoons stretched across what is now Southern Germany.
“We are very happy that we were able to see this project come to a good end after one and a half years. A great aquarium is now waiting to be discovered by museum visitors”, says the scientific director of the museum, Privatdozentin Dr. Christina Ifrim. Not only can you experience biodiversity face to face, but also observe how fine-grained calcite particles deposit between corals - very similar to the ones that formed these unique fossils. Dr. Ifrim thanks the Bavarian Natural History Collections (Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns) for funding this endeavor and thereby showing their appreciation. The SNSB have funded this project with a sum of some ten thousand euros, to make the reef visible to museum visitors once more.
![[Translate to Englisch:] Aquarium 1](/fileadmin/_processed_/a/2/csm_Aquarium_Juramuseum1a__Benutzerdefiniert__bc2e0f5407.jpg)