Santa Monica Pier Aquarium

Santa Monica Pier Aquarium

250px The Santa Monica Pier Aquarium is located beneath the famous Santa Monica Pier.
Date opened	1996
Location	Santa Monica, California, USA
Coordinates
Number of species	104
Website	http://www.healthebay.org/smpa/

File:CaliforniaMorayEel.jpg

The California Moray Eel is one of the featured local species on display.

File:CaliforniaTwoSpotOctopus2.jpg

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. It was formerly known as the Ocean Discovery Center and was operated by UCLA.

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.

The SMPA has numerous exhibits featuring marine life native to the Santa Monica Bay, including:

• Shark / Ray Tank
• Octopus Tank
• 3 Touch Tanks
• Crustacean Tank
• Phylum Discovery Tank
• Rocky Reef Tank
• Pier Tank (Under the pier environment)
• Kelp Forest Tank
• Sandy Bottom Tank

Species on display include:

Chordata Sarcastic Fringehead Swell Shark Horn Shark Leopard Shark Round Stingray Thornback Ray Black Sea Bass Garibaldi California Moray Eel Giant Kelp Fish California Halibut Shiner Surfperch Blacksmith Cabezon Sargo California Scorpionfish C-O Turbot Treefish

Arthropods Sheep Crab Kelp Crab Hermit Crab California Spiny Lobster Molluscs California Two-Spot Octopus Red Abalone Chestnut Cowrie Kellet's whelk Giant Keyhole Limpet California Mussel Norris's Top Snail

Echinoderms Bat Star Ochre Sea Star Brittle Star Purple Sea Urchin Sand Dollar California Sea Cucumber Cnidaria Club Tipped Anemone Tube-dwelling Anemone

Incident

In February 2009 the two-spotted octopus managed to manipulate the pipe connection that takes care of draining the water tank. Consequently, a few hundred gallons of water flooded the visitor space.

External links

• Santa Monica Pier Aquarium website
• Heal the Bay website
• Meet the Locals, an advertising campaign for the reopening after renovations
• Aquarium of the Pacific, another Los Angeles Area aquarium