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Lagoon

Get Tropical

A swirl of vibrant, Day-Glo color. Swishing tails, fluttering fins. Leopard prints, neon yellow stripes, hot orange lips. It’s a balmy, tropical world in the Lagoon, with fish and and an eel swimming in a sandy, Indo-Pacific reef.

The South Pacific Aquarium is temporarily closed for restoration and repair of critical animal-care structures, habitats and life-support systems. Our goal is to extend the life of this aging, saltwater aquarium for another two decades and care for ocean animals into the future. Read more here. 

Swim into the Lagoon

Lagoon Keeper Chat
11am Thursday and Sunday
It's like taking a brush to an artist's palette and swirling it. When the lagoon fish get fed, it's a kaleidoscope of color, Ask our aquarists all about it at the Lagoon Keeper Chat!
Daily Schedule
Find it
in the Zoo.
Find the Lagoon in the upper South Pacific Aquarium.
Plan your day
Wrasse
Time to clean up.
Wrasse come in many shapes, colors and sizes, from 3 inches to 8 feet.
Some maintain cleaning stations for other fish, removing parasites and dead tissue.
Tang tails
Slashing, slicing
Tangs are oval shaped fish with a sharp spine at the base of their tails.
It can slash intruders or be as exact as a surgeon's scalpel.
Angelfish
It's all about looks.
Angelfish have bright color patterns they use to identify threats to their territory.
Young fish look different from adults so they can swim nearby without being chased.

A Plastic Ocean?

Let's turn that tide.

THE THREAT: By 2050, scientists predict that there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. Plastic trash builds up on land and, despite our best efforts, eventually blows or washes out to sea, where it chokes and starves marine animals.

HOW TO HELP: Reduce your use of plastic. Choose reusable items like lunch wrappings and water bottles; say no to straws and extra packaging. Help protect our ocean.

Aquarium Stories

Point Defiance Zoo earns AZA accreditation

Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium earned kudos and another five years of accreditation from the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) in September. The Tacoma zoo also won a significant … Continued

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The Health of Puget Sound

Checking in on Puget Sound’s Health How healthy is Puget Sound? What areas are showing declines, and which are holding steady? Those are the questions divers at Point Defiance Zoo … Continued

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Saving Puget Sound’s Underwater Forests

An underwater crisis is happening, and there isn’t one apparent reason. Since the 1870s, South Puget Sound’s shorelines have lost about two-thirds of their bull kelp forests, according to a … Continued

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Love the Lagoon?
Love the Lagoon? Then check out the Outer Reef, where massive sharks glide through deep blue water.