What to Know
- The "rethemed" Southern California Gallery debuts on Saturday, July 1
- Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach; included with admission
- The new habitat will feature several Pacific animals, including the magnificent California two-spot octopus
Wrapping our tentacles of our minds around the surreal notion that we occupy the same planet as cephalopods, those sucker-laden, ink-blasting, oh-so-smart, super-soggy superstars of the not-so-deep?
Try as we might, knowing this, really knowing it, seems to be a supernatural flight of fancy.
One solution to understanding Earth's incredible array of animal life is to go see these animals. And since wading more than a little way into the Pacific is a rather daunting and damp proposition, we turn our sights upon the Aquarium of the Pacific.
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The acclaimed aquarium is putting its own celebrated suckers to work on a newly imagined habitat, one that will debut on Saturday, July 1: The Southern California Gallery.
And one spectacular Southern Californian we will look forward to admiring? It's the California two-spot octopus, which, oh yes, has an array of delightful dots, a pretty pattern that gives the limb-laden critter its distinctive look.
But other residents of the new gallery will also draw fans, from the moray eel to the white abalone.
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Also making a home in the gallery? Gnaw-rly news: Horn sharks will also be there, sweet, and leopard sharks, too.
Sauntering through this wonderland of oceanic amazingness is included with your admission to the Long Beach-based aquarium.
Other gallery features may tempt you to put your own tentacles up for a few minutes, all while you linger and look around, including artificial reefs, colorful kelp, and underwater mountains.
The gallery, which indeed features those gill-possessing, shell-sporting, fin-tastic animals that live close to the coast, will feature over three dozen species.
