Coastal Kelp Forest
Did you know?
Girl or boy? For a California sheephead fish, it depends when you ask. They start out female, then turn male around age 10. Come to the Kelp Forest and meet our sheephead, Buddy!
Explore the Kelp
Meet Our Animals
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Not just an underbite
Sheephead like to crunch
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California sheephead have strong teeth to crunch the lobster, crab, sea urchin and mussels they love to eat, and special bones in their throats to finish the job.
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To avoid predators, they wrap themselves in a mucus cocoon to rest at night. Predators can’t smell them through the mucus.
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Fade to black (and white)
Rockfish go deep
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Flag rockfish hide while young under protective kelp leaves. As they grow, they move to deeper water – often 200-700 feet, and sometimes over 1,300 feet deep.
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Down this far, red colors fade and darken, and this red striped fish turns almost to black and white, like a zebra.
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Hot lips
for flagfish
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Treefish are also known as “lipstick fish” because of the bright red coloring that warns other fish out of their territory.
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They also raise their dorsal fins, facing off with open mouths and sometimes locking jaws with intruders to scare them off.
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Help the kelp
THE THREAT: Kelp forests such as those in California and southern Australia have in the past been decimated by sea urchins, who eat through the kelp without enough sea otters to keep them in check.
TAKE ACTION: For 15 years our Zoo has taken part in the Washington Sea Otter Survey. Help protect otters – and other marine mammals – by reducing your plastic use and keeping trash out of the ocean.
Aquarium Stories
Aquarist John Foster cradled the vermilion rockfish gently in two hands, submersed. Anesthetized, it lay still as veterinarian Dr. Kadie Anderson took a quick documentary photo of its eyes, which bulged to each side. Then Foster lowered the fish – now fully awake – into a water-filled container that looked something like sci-fi author Jules … Continued
Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium is reopening its Eye-to-Eye Shark Dives on Thursday, Sept. 10, with timed online tickets and enhanced safety protocols designed to help guests connect up close with sharks while staying safe and healthy. Timed online tickets will go on sale Aug. 28. The 60-minute adventure allows up to four guests from … Continued
Everyone knows shark teeth, right? Those big slathering daggers in scary movies? Uh, no. At least, there’s a lot more to shark teeth than the pop culture stereotypes. Some sharks are enormous – but have the tiniest teeth! Many sharks have different teeth in front compared to the back of their mouths, depending on what … Continued
