Oregon Coast Aquarium

I decided the Oregon Coast Aquarium is a misnomer. When the aquarium was mentioned as something to see, I was not enthusiastic. Watching fish swim around in a tank is not at the top of my list of favorite things. But this aquarium is so much more and I'm so glad I went.

First we watched the sea otters being fed. Gosh, do they gulp down the food. And who doesn't love otters.


Then we moved on to the seals and sea lions. These are harbor seals.


And the sea lions seem to know that food is coming.
We learned the most obvious difference between the two is that the sea lions can 'walk' on land while the seals have to just bounce along on their bellies.

Next was the seabird exhibit. These are common murres which, as their name suggests, are very common along the Oregon coast.


But let me skip to my personal favorite, the tufted puffin. Ron and I have a major disagreement on these birds. I think they're the cutest things ever and he thinks they're ugly. What do you think?


I love to watch them 'fly' through the water, but this guy looks like he's standing on top.


I took a short movie of his odd behavior.


There were aquariums, but they had some unique occupants. These are moon jellyfish. Cool, huh?


And I knew I should have written down what this was. I just know it wasn't a jellyfish.


And we were told these are not starfish since they are not fish. They have been renamed sea stars. I swear they weren't this colorful at the Jersey shore.

They also had some big aquariums with lots of fish, but the only ones I recognized were the sharks. The sturgeons were interesting since they're endangered and can grow so big. It was way too dark for my camera, so no pictures. You'll have to go yourself.

The Oregon Coast Aquarium is in Newport, Oregon.