Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre

Ocean Babyville – on Shaw The Daily

pr — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:52:11 +0000

November 2011

Meet the new babies at the Aquarium.

Click here to watch!

Hip Hop Video by Transit, Live at the Aquarium

pr — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:43:10 +0000

September 2011

Transit Hip Hop recorded their music video for ‘Same Steez’ among our habitats!

Click here to watch!

Deep Dive! Deep Discovery! – on Shaw The Daily

pr — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 17:38:03 +0000

July 2011

Shaw TV discovers the tools and technology used for ocean exploration more than 100 years ago through to present day.

Click here to watch!

2011 CRD EcoStar Awards

pr — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 05:49:39 +0000

June 2011

Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre won the 2011 EcoStar Award for Water Stewardship.

Click here to watch a short video!

World Oceans Day 2011 – on Shaw The Daily

pr — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 05:39:32 +0000

June 5, 2011

Click here to watch!

Get to Know 2011 – on Shaw The Daily

pr — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 05:35:04 +0000

April 15, 2011

Click here to watch!

Salish Sea Oceancasts

pr — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 05:20:26 +0000

Sex in the Salish Sea – on Shaw The Daily

pr — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 23:16:21 +0000

March 7, 2011
Click here to watch!

No Baby Octopus This Time

pr — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 23:10:55 +0000

March 23, 2011 SIDNEY, BC — Visitors to the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre have been enthralled to watch Darla, a female octopus, care for more than 30,000 eggs in the Centre’s custom-designed octopus habitat. For the past eight months, since she laid the eggs in the overhead exhibit, visitors have been able to observe Darla jetting water past the eggs while constantly cleaning them by sweeping her tentacles across the egg sacs. It has been an amazing learning experience for everyone.

Oceaneers and the Centre’s professional aquarists have been monitoring the situation closely. After consulting with other aquariums and octopus experts, Jim Cosgrove and Roland Anderson, the team has come to the conclusion that the eggs are not fertile. The Centre will not be experiencing an octopus baby boom this time around.

Mike Anderson, Head Aquarist, said that the Centre was delighted that an octopus would feel comfortable enough in the aquarium’s octopus habitat to lay her eggs in the first place. The big question always was whether Darla had been out on a date with a male octopus before she arrived at the Centre. As Anderson explained, “The sex life of octopus is a marvel of adaptation. The female octopus is very much in control. She collects sperm from the male and holds it until she chooses to fertilize and lay her eggs at a time and place that suit her.” The female octopus reaches the end of her life cycle within a few months after laying eggs. Consequently, the Centre has taken Darla off display and has introduced two new young octopuses to the exhibit.

Media Contacts

Lauren Obee
Public Relations Manager
Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre
pr@oceandiscovery.ca
250.665.7511 ext. 109

Angus Matthews
Executive Director
Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre
angus@oceandiscovery.ca
250.665.7511 ext. 108

Sex in the Salish Sea

pr — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 23:11:53 +0000

February 10, 2011 SIDNEY, BC — Love is in the air—or in the water—at Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre. Beginning on Valentine’s Day, “Sex in the Salish Sea” is the aquarium’s latest theme, focusing on reproductive methods of animals in our local waters.

Discover how plumose anemones clone themselves, why perch bear live offspring, which fish lays an egg known as a mermaid’s purse and how barnacles prove that size matters.

New aquarium exhibits feature the mating behaviours of marine life, and explain how certain habitats are critical for the reproduction and growth of animals in the Salish Sea.

“Two particularly important habitats are eelgrass meadows and kelp forests,” notes Tina Kelly, the centre’s visitor experience director. “They’re nurseries, providing refuge for eggs, juvenile fish, and invertebrates.”

One new aquarium habitat shows an eelgrass meadow, complete with fish eggs, newly-hatched fish, and other critters swimming among the blades of grass. Another habitat will display newly- arrived baby wolf-eels. Videos and interpretive talks portray “Sex in the Salish Sea,” and, as always, the program is family friendly and knowledgeable Oceaneers are on hand to answer questions.

Media Contact

Lauren Obee
Public Relations Manager
Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre
pr@oceandiscovery.ca
250.665.7511 ext. 109