SEASIDE AQUARIUM

FEED THE SEALS

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About the Seaside Aquarium

When the aquarium was founded in 1937, the goal was mostly to entertain the public. The dark interior was meant to create the feeling of swimming through an ocean cave at a time when respiration-aided diving was virtually unknown.

In the past several years, the focus has shifted to include education and community involvement as well as entertainment. We have reached beyond the walls of the actual building to participate in local events and projects geared toward a better understanding and appreciation of the North Coast marine environment.

In 1995, we became leaders in the regional Marine Mammal Stranding Network. In the next few years we added an Interpretive Center and helped start Seaside’s Beach Discovery Program. We have partnered with local businesses, non-profit organizations, and the City of Seaside to inform both visitors and local communities about beach safety, tides, different coastal habitats, and the animals who live there.

The BBC film crew took video of Tsu and interviewed Aquarium General Manager Keith Chandler.

Celebrity Fish

One of the Aquarium’s recent acquisitions has received international attention. The unique story of the Striped Beakfish who rode four thousand miles across the Pacific from Japan to the United States in the debris from the 2011 Japan tsunami piqued the interest of the UK’s BBC.

Nadege Laici, a researcher for the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol, England, brought two crew members to the Seaside Aquarium this September to film the welltraveled fish and interview the General Manager, Keith Chandler.

The Striped Beakfish in question was discovered in the bait box of a Japanese fishing boat that washed ashore in Long Beach, Washington last March. Striped Beakfish typically live on coastal reefs in the waters of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Dubbed 'Tsu', (after the tsunami that carried it here) the beakfish has been on display since April. After its two-year journey, Tsu now lives a life of leisure, eating local delicacies like razor clams and salmon in the Aquarium’s only heated tank (kept at 55 degrees Fahrenheit).

Tsu will be featured in a BBC documentary called "Nature's Weirdest Events".

Text by: Brandy Hussa

Photos courtesy of the Seaside Aquarium: Tiffany Boothe, Brandy Hussa, Pam Bierly

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Stay connected:

Seaside Aquarium, 200 North Prom, Seaside, Oregon 97138 Tel: (503) 738-6211.