Santa Monica Pier Aquarium

Santa Monica Pier Aquarium
The Santa Monica Pier Aquarium is located beneath the famous Santa Monica Pier.
Date opened 1996
Location Santa Monica, California, USA
Coordinates 34°0′37.6″N 118°29′45.4″W / 34.010444°N 118.495944°W / 34.010444; -118.495944Coordinates: 34°0′37.6″N 118°29′45.4″W / 34.010444°N 118.495944°W / 34.010444; -118.495944
No. of species 104
Website https://healthebay.org/aquarium
The California Moray Eel is one of the featured local species on display.
This California Two-Spot Octopus is 3-4 months old.

Santa Monica Pier Aquarium is an aquarium in Santa Monica, California, located beneath the Santa Monica Pier, adjacent to the Pacific Ocean. Since 2003, it is operated by Heal the Bay, a nonprofit organization.[1] It was formerly known as the Ocean Discovery Center and was operated by UCLA.[1]

As Heal the Bay’s marine education facility, it is open to the general public and attracts more than 65,000 visitors from around the world per year (approximately 15,000 are students). This facility offers educational programs, activities, and special events dedicated to marine conservation, pollution prevention, and environmental education.

Species on display include:

Chordata

Arthropods

Molluscs

Echinoderms

Cnidaria

Octopus incident

In February 2009 the two-spotted octopus managed to manipulate the pipe connection that takes care of draining the water tank. Two hundred gallons of water from the valve flooded the visitor space.[2][3] The event received significant media attention.[4][5]

References

  1. 1 2 Jenn Garbee; Nancy Gottesman; Stephanie "Tippy" Helper (1 October 2007). Hometown Santa Monica: The Bay Cities Book. Prospect Park Publishing. pp. 26–. ISBN 978-0-9753939-2-5.
  2. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-06. Retrieved 2009-03-06.
  3. ↑ Pool, Bob. "Octopus floods Santa Monica Pier Aquarium". L.A. Times. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  4. ↑ Borrell, Brendan. "Are octopuses smart?". Scientific American. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  5. ↑ Brulliard, Karen. "Octopus slips out of aquarium tank, crawls across floor, escapes down pipe to ocean". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 April 2016.


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