Pacific Seas Aquarium

Baja Bay is the centerpiece of the Pacific Seas Aquarium – a 280,000-gallon warm-water exhibit, home to scalloped hammerhead sharks, green sea turtles and spotted eagle rays, plus dozens of other tropical fish species, like you’d find in the Gulf of California. Come and dive in!

Northwest Waters is a 100,000-gallon exhibit full of stunning Northwest marine life from pink waving anemones to 30-year-old rockfish, ratfish, salmon, sturgeon, lingcod, even a wolf eel – all behind a massive 25-foot-wide, 10-foot-tall window. See what’s right on our doorstep in the cold waters of Puget Sound.

A hands-on, up-close marine animal experience touching the same tidal creatures you’d find at low tide in Puget Sound. Feel the rough texture of sea stars, the spikiness of sea urchins, and the hardness of crab shells…

It’s all backed by a giant wall map of the Sound itself and a stunning watercolor mural by Tacoma artist Maria Jost – and comes with a handy bench for parents.

Giant strands of kelp wave in the water, echoing in replica the kelp forests of Southern California, with leopard sharks, a moray eel and California sheephead fish swimming through them.

In a globe spilling endlessly with water, moon jellyfish swirl and float, mesmerizing and vibrant. It’s one of only two jelly globes in the entire country, surrounded by several other jelly exhibits.

Brainy and beautiful, the giant Pacific octopus is the largest octopus species in the world. Get close-up views of this mesmerizing creature, along with rockfish and colorful anemones.

A peek into the magical world of sea life under the Narrows Bridges: wolf eels hiding under girders, anemones waving with the tides, sea stars clambering over rocks.

The Tacoma Narrows Bridges soar over rich underwater marine life – and the sunken remains of the first bridge, “Galloping Gertie.” Come peer into those mysteries…

As you approach the aquarium entrance, you’ll walk right past this 4,500-gallon outdoor exhibit teeming with sea stars, anemones and urchins amid the moving waves that would create their tidal habitat in nearby Puget Sound.

Watch this habitat grow as we add finishing touches and new animals!

Silvery, swimming, streaming – 2,200 Pacific herring all going in the same direction make for an amazing sight.

Find ours near the entrance to the Pacific Seas Aquarium, where they swim constantly in a circular habitat that keeps them schooling – a natural trait for this fish to avoid predators.

Herring are the bread-and-butter of the ocean. Many fish, birds and sea mammals rely on them and their eggs for food. They’re also the inspiration for a sculpture further down in the aquarium: “Shoal,” by Gordon Huether. Dozens of small, cut-metal fish “swim” in a school from the ceiling of the corridor, reflecting both daylight and vibrantly-colored indoor light.

Is that a rock, dappled with pink anemone? No – it’s a Puget Sound king crab, colorfully camouflaged!

North Puget Sound Color is full of the vibrant colors you’d see diving in local waters: bright vermillion rockfish (Sebastes miniatus), black-and-green-speckled rock greenling (Hexagrammos lagocephalus), pink strawberry anemone (Corynactis californica) scattered like tiny flowers over the rocks, paler crimson anemone (Cribrinopsis fernaldi) waving their arms to catch dinner, and brilliant orange sea cucumber (Cucumaria miniata).

Squat down to fish-eye-level and you’ll be instantly shrunk to fish size, as the thick exhibit walls magnify the scene and surround you.

But it’s the king crab (Lopholithodes mandtii) that will really surprise you. When you discover that mottled orange-and-pink rock is actually an enormous crustacean, built like a tank, you realize how perfect its disguise is to ward off predators and capture the barnacles, sea stars and urchins it crushes for dinner.