It was built in the 1930s, when the island was under the Italian rule and is currently administered by the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research.

The building, an Art Deco design by the Italian architect Armando Bernabiti, was constructed between 1934 and 1935.

[1] When the island was handed back to Greece in 1947, the facility was operated as part of the "Hellenic Hydrobiological Institute".

The tanks along each side of the corridor are filled with approximately 80,000 litres (21,000 US gal) of filtered seawater, providing a natural environment for the residents.

A really unique one is a 2000 years old skeleton of a Mediterranean monk seal that was found in a grave at an archaeological site at the port of Rhodes.