The Aquarium of the Pacific

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Aquarium of the Pacific
Long Beach, California

A trip to an Aquarium can be a fun and educational introduction to oceanography for you and your family.

Seeing the majesty of the undersea world up close inspires true appreciation for our planet's incredible diversity.

The Aquarium of the Pacific houses over 12,000 marine animals. Some so remarkable that it's hard to believe they weren't created in an animation studio.

Each of the 50+ exhibits superbly displays the native habitats of marine life in the Pacific Ocean. In addition to the main galleries, the Aquarium features Jellies: Phantoms of the Deep and outdoors, the Shark Lagoon and the Lorikeet Forest.

Aquarium of the Pacific's hands on exhibits are some of the most enjoyable. There are several different pools that allow you to literally "get a feel" for undersea life.

You can touch tide pool inhabitants, reef life, rays, and even sharks... don't worry, not the ones that bite! There are aquarium employees at every exhibit to answer questions and teach you how to interact with the animals.

If you have a submersible camera, you can get some fun and interesting underwater shots there.

The Lorikeet Forest is a 100-foot long and 20-foot high outdoor aviary, which is home to almost a hundred Rainbow Lorikeets.

One unique characteristic of the Lorikeet is their tongue. It's brush like and used for collecting nectar, much like a butterfly. You'll have the opportunity to see this close up if you purchase nectar for $1 in front to feed to the birds.

These native inhabitants of Australia's coastal lowlands are quite friendly and will sit on your hand, shoulder, or head with little coaxing.

The Aquarium of the Pacific's "Behind the Scenes" tour is also fun if your kids are 7 or older. There, you can see first hand what it takes to maintain the aquarium and care for the animals.

The tour lasts about 1 hour and is quite informative. We fed over 250 different species of fish in the giant reef tank... that was really fun and amazing to see so many different exotic fish all together right before our eyes competing for our bits of dried seaweed!

Another highlight is feeding time at Shark Lagoon, so check for times on the brochure. The sharks here range from the docile Nurse Shark and Leopard Sharks to the more aggressive and unpredictable Black Tip Reef Sharks to the even more feared Sand Tiger Sharks, who sport a menacing toothy grin that nightmares are made of.

Then, there's the gem of the sea, the Sawfish, the only non-shark resident... actually the most rare and interesting to watch eat. It's fed last because of it's extremely aggressive nature. When eating, this fish will thrash it's toothy snout back-and-forth in an effort to slash, stab or tear into anything near that may be eatable.

The Sawfish will grow to lengths of over 25 feet, and very little is yet known about this animal. She is a real treat to watch. So make sure you stick around to see it.

All in all, we found the Aquarium of The Pacific to be an excursion with a lot to do and see. Plan on spending the entire afternoon to early evening carefully taking in all the spectacular sights they have to offer.

By the way, the Aquarium of the Pacific also offers many exciting volunteer positions if you live nearby and would like the opportunity to get close to marine life on a more continuous basis.

Related Links:

Aquarium of the Pacific

FamilyMatters.tv Aquariums List

Aquarium of the Pacific 2008 Calendar of Public Events

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