Portobello’s other long-standing attraction is the public aquarium at the University of Otago’s marine laboratory, situated at the end of an isthmus that runs halfway across the harbour towards Port Chalmers. The foyer of the centre is dominated by a huge cylindrical perspex tank extending almost to the roof and filled with swimming fish and waving kelp. Down in the aquarium proper, tanks filled with unusual organisms line the walls, and in the middle of the room are shallow artificial rock pools stocked with durable creatures children can poke and squeeze.