by Mary Nightingale, Assistant Educator
At the end of each day, members of the Learning Team all share visitor interaction highlights. Sometimes these are memorable moments or unique encounters, other times they are questions that really made us think! As my summer here comes to a close I’ve been reflecting, and put together some of the most interesting insights that visitors have had this summer. Hopefully, these inquiries bring a smile to your face as they have for the summer team!
“I have a strange feeling that these (the exhibits) are all projections...” (Age 11)
Nope! Our aquarium is home to roughly 3500 animals from 160 marine species, all of which are native to the Salish Sea. I can personally attest to the fact that everything you see here is real. If it weren’t, I’d wonder what our aquarist team does all day! Behind the scenes, this team works tirelessly to ensure all of the animals are healthy and the systems are running smoothly. Plus those 55 gallons of water/minute passing through the Centre have to be going somewhere…
Things are always changing around here, and it is not due to the reprogramming of projections, but the ebb and flow of what is best for the animal ambassadors!
Photo: Bob Orchard
“You should call that one a belly button plant!” (Age 8)
A young visitor had her first introduction with a giant green sea anemone. This is certainly a great nickname to describe the appearance of this species but provides an opportunity to teach as well.
Anemones are not in fact plants, but animals! Its base, called a basal or pedal disk, is like an adhesive foot that holds onto rocks, enduring strong waves. Unlike a plant, this animal can move around, though it usually picks one spot and sticks with it. As this animal doesn’t actively hunt, their preferred spot is somewhere where food passes by. The “belly button” is both the mouth and anus. Scientists refer to this as an incomplete digestive system (We have a complete digestive system!). The anemone’s stinging tentacles trap prey and move it toward this opening.
If you are walking about Sidney, make a stop at our community tidepool and spot one of these “belly button plants” for yourself!
Photo: Jeff Reindl
“I need help remembering the name of a species I saw today! It has the head of a seahorse, the body of a walrus and flipper-esque appendages used to hop along the bottom.”
This was a puzzling one but after putting our heads together we soon figured it out! This unique description is of our grunt sculpins! You can find these little fish living in the Centre’s main gallery, to the left of the Surge Channel exhibit. Don’t be afraid to ask for a clue though, despite their bright orange fins, this species can be hard to spot. They are often nestled into an empty barnacle, amongst the red sea cucumber, zoanthids and strawberry anemones. In case you were wondering, yes this species does “grunt”!
“Why does that yellowtail rockfish appear to be cuddling the kelp crab?”
I’ll admit, this is a question I asked myself! I’ve since learned that this behaviour is more likely a cleaning session than afternoon snuggles. While it looks like our kelp crabs are clawing at the rockfish, they are actually picking off algae. Algae makes up this crab’s summer diet and contributes to their excellent camouflage colours. If you are hoping to spot a kelp crab, take a close look around our exhibits. This species is a great climber and is often blending in with the kelp.
“Did you have to break the glass to let the salmon out?” (Age 4)
In July, we released 176 juvenile Chinook salmon, as part of our salmon release program. These salmon arrived as fry from the Goldstream Hatchery and will (hopefully) return to that river to spawn. When we released the salmon, we partially drained the exhibit and climbed in from the top so we could transfer them from nets, to bins and finally to the ocean nearby.
So no, we did not have to break the glass. That would be a messy, dangerous and expensive method indeed!
Photo: Jeff Reindl
“Where do sea stars come from? Do they fall from the sky?” (Age 6)
What a wholesome question, but in fact, these creatures do not come to us from outer space. Some of our animals, including sea stars, are long-time residents of the aquarium. Others, like our Chinook salmon and giant Pacific octopus, are here for a short time to act as advocates for their species before being released back into the ocean.
“You could name it Hot Sauce!” (Age 7)
This was a response from a girl wanting to name our toy octopus.
Did you know that we often hold contests to name our octopus? Roughly every six months, we release our octopus and welcome a new one. This means twice a year we are looking for a new name! Sometimes it’s a contest for visitors and sometimes these names honour someone who has had a significant impact on our aquarium or the greater community. Who knows, maybe our next octopus will be “Hot Sauce”!
Photo: Bob Orchard
“Are those jellies really changing colours? Is that how they communicate?”
While some animals might change colour to communicate (the chameleon perhaps?), that is not the case with our moon jellies. The exhibit for our moon jellies features a colour changing LED to highlight the beautiful, methodic way in which these white jellies move.
The crystal jellies, however, really do produce a green light around their bells. This jelly’s body contains the protein, aequorin, that has bioluminescent properties!
“Is this fish okay?” “Is it supposed to be on the bottom like that?” “Do fish sleep?”
These are asked quite frequently when visitors spot a fish lying about.
This could be referring to greenlings, one of many fish species that doesn’t have a swim bladder. A swim bladder is a pocket of gas within a fish, used to control buoyancy. When a fish doesn’t have this, it takes a lot of energy to continuously swim! Just like I only run when I’m missing my bus to work, these types of fish only swim if it's worth it, like when it's lunchtime or evading a predator!