The new site of the Qingdao Shell Museum, which is expected to open to the public at the end of the year, will become the world's largest shellfish exhibition and research venue in terms of exhibit quantity, local media reported.

The new venue is located in the Qingdao West Coast New Area and will exhibit more than 60,000 shells, over 1,000 shell fossils, and more than 2,000 Chinese and foreign shell cultural relics, according to Geng Bing, curator of the Qingdao Shell Museum.

According to Geng, the oriental shell culture exposition park, which consists of a shell museum, a shell industry creative park, and a shell culture international exchange center, has received a total of 330 million yuan ($51.02 million) in investment.

The complex, covering an area of about 33,333 square meters, will promote the study of shell culture and marine science in Qingdao, said Geng.

The old site of the museum was established in 2015, covering an area of about 2,600 sq m and displaying more than 4,260 shells.

Various shells are exhibited at the old site of the Qingdao Shell Museum. [Photo/guanhai.com.cn]

The Qingdao Shell Museum is designed to promote the study of shell culture and marine science. [Photo/guanhai.com.cn]

A rendering of the new Qingdao Shell Museum [Photo/guanhai.com.cn]

Shell fossils exhibited at the Qingdao Shell Museum [Photo/guanhai.com.cn]