SEASIDE AQUARIUM

Enjoying the Unexpected

The animals on display at the Seaside Aquarium have come from a wide variety of sources. Very few are collected per year by aquarium staff. More are brought to the aquarium by various people. We have one eager volunteer who fishes the estuary and surf regularly and has single-handedly added hundreds of fish to our displays. Visitors and locals often discover creatures or egg casings on the beach, bring them in for identification, and then leave them in our care. And local fishermen not only serve as our primary resource for octopus, they also are always on the lookout for something unusual.

When an unusual fish is brought in to the aquarium, its chance of survival depends on the depth at which it was caught and the condition it was in when it arrived. Local fishermen sometimes catch unusual fish on deep-water lines. Fish that are brought up from the depths sometimes have a difficult time adjusting to salinity and pressure differences in the water. Tossing them back in the ocean would effectively kill them. They bring the fish to the aquarium so we can display it, allowing visitors to see a unique creature from the depths. If we can, we offer the animal to other aquariums that are more equipped to effectively care long-term for these creatures.

In the past few months, the aquarium has seen two fish that are common in local waters but unusual to our displays: a ratfish and an electric ray. The ratfish was found in the surf at the cove by visiting children, a very unusual location considering how deep in the ocean they live and how sensitive they are to salinity changes. The electric ray was the first one our General Manager had had on display in more than ten years. Too large to livelong-term in any of our tanks, its was transferred to the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

When visiting the aquarium, ask our staff if there is anything new and exciting on display!