It's a big day for Bristol today as the Blue Reef Aquarium opens its doors with a host of exotic and local sealife on display.

Taking over a year to create, at a cost of £4 million, the aquarium holds 7,000 aquatic species in 75,000 litres of water.

Ranging from giant Pacific octopus, zebra sharks and more locally-based conger eels and bass, it offers a diverse experience of the world's underwater inhabitants.

A group of Bristol primary schoolchildren got a sneak preview of the new displays yesterday.

A group of 27 five, six and seven-year-olds from St George Primary School on Brandon Hill were given a VIP tour of the Harbourside attraction

The visit provided staff at the new aquarium with a final 'dress rehearsal' ahead of the official opening.

Manager Susie Unsworth said: "We've all been working really hard over the past few months to get the aquarium ready and we're looking forward to welcoming our first visitors."

The schoolchildren had been hard at work in preparation for the visit, designing their own fish-based collages in class.

Visitors will first be greeted by the structure of a sunken ship. The 260,000-litre shipwreck display focuses on local unsung heroes such as wolf fish, flatfish, cod and pollock.

As they then move through each of the exhibits, visitors will find they are travelling the globe – from the 'Tropical Lakes and Rivers' with four-eyed fish, to the 'Rainforest', home to the monsters of the deep such as the infamous piranha fish.

The aquarium has installed hi-tech lighting to imitate day and night, as well as weather changes, making it as realistic as possible.

At the heart of its 'sea safari' is the Tropical Coral reef, including a two-metre tall concave viewing bubble, through which visitors can watch butterfly fish and puffer fish, as well as black tip reef and nurse sharks.

Throughout the exhibits there are interactive panels and a laboratory area. Here, enthusiasts have the opportunity to look closer at the weird and wonderful creatures and touch a selection of them, such as starfish.

In addition, within the attraction is the Imax cinema, reopening after its closure in April 2007.

The theatre is showing Tribes of the Ocean for a limited period on its 3D screens, a film about dolphins and whales. It premieres at the aquarium and is narrated by Daryl Hannah and presented by Jean-Michel Cousteau.

The aquarium sourced its creatures as ethically as possible, either captive bred or carefully taken from the wild in a way that did not upset the ecosystem.

Highlighting the perils of exotic pets, rescue turtles have been used in the Amazonian botanical garden. There is also a tank featuring clown fish, made popular by the film Finding Nemo.

Admission is £13.50 for adults, £9.20 for children and £11.50 for students and seniors. A family ticket for two adults and two children is £43.40.