A group of cold-water marine animals went on display today at the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium.

Visitors to the aquarium had their first chance today to see painted greenlings, different types of anemons, spider crabs and purple-stripped jellyfish. As these creatures reside in cold water, the temperature in the aquarium has to be kept at a constant 14 degrees Celsius.

Most of the cold water marine animals on display were imported from Canada and other parts of North America. The curator says it took the animals about a month to adjust to the local environment, after appearing somewhat dizzy when they first arrived in Shanghai following a very long flight. Workers at the aquarium had to learn about the animals' characteristics quickly.

"When we first saw the beautiful, gentle anemons, we thought they were vegetarians. But in fact they are absolute carnivores. We thought maybe eating meat all the time is bad for them, so we thought about mixing some veggies. But they spit all of the vegetables out," said Gu Minghua, assistant curator of Shanghai Ocean Aquarium.

The exhibition will run until the end of October, and is included in the normal aquarium admission fee.