Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
TIDE POOL TOUCH TANKS
The marine mammal shows, which Sea World widely advertised,
were the primary draw for visitors. Personally, I was much more
interested in other forms of life in the sea: animals with body de-
signs and functions that are totally di¤erent from land-originated
mammals like dolphins and seals. I found the amazing diversity
of marine life far more interesting. I knew if visitors could see and
experience some of these, they too would find them fascinating.
At one point when our daughters were young, we went on a
car-camping trip from San Francisco to Vancouver, British Co-
lumbia. On the way we visited the Point Defiance Aquarium in
Tacoma, Washington. I was most impressed with their aquariums
filled with the invertebrate life of Puget Sound, collected by aquar-
ium director Cecil Brosseau and his sta¤.
A couple of the exhibits in particular fascinated the visitors. They
were nothing more than shallow, open-top, freestanding tanks
about three feet in diameter placed in the middle of the public
passageways. People could walk all around them and look down
into the water. Beneath the surface were common invertebrates
like sea stars, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers.
What was fascinating about these exhibits was that there was
no barrier between the animals and the visitors. What's more, the
animals were close enough to be touched. The most unique of
these open tanks contained a good-sized giant Pacific octopus
(
Enteroctopus dofleini
). This exhibit was for looking only, but what
made it memorable was the close proximity of the octopus to the
viewer. Remembering that early trip, I took Cecil Brosseau's sim-
ple but ingenious idea and expanded on it to create a major hands-
on tide pool for the visitors to Sea World.
Designed to appeal both to adults and to the more inquisitive
minds—and hands— of children, the exhibit had two compo-
nents. One was a twenty-foot-in-diameter, donut-shaped pool with
informational graphics and a sta¤ member in the center to in-
terpret the animal life. This pool, which was not for touching,
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