A Visit to the Vancouver Aquarium, Part I: The Exhibits

A Visit to the Vancouver Aquarium in November 2003
Part I: The Exhibits

by Howard Norfolk
Original to Aquarticles

The Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre first opened in 1956, and it is the largest public aquarium in Canada. It is run by a non-profit society and has status as a charity in both Canada and the U.S. It is one of Vancouver's main tourist attractions.

Admissions, programmes, groups, membership, and sales of souvenirs and food bring in 79% of the Aquarium's income, and charitable donations and restricted grants make up the rest. 867,000 people visited the Vancouver Aquarium in 2002, and its budget was $13,700,000. It has 280 full and part time employees, and another 625 volunteers help with its many research, conservation and education programmes.

Again from its web site: the Vancouver Public Aquarium Association is "dedicated to effecting the conservation of aquatic life through display and interpretation, research and direct action." In other words, it is not just a tourist attraction where people can come and pay to look at pretty fish - its aim is also to educate those people, and to do research and physical work in matters of conservation.

So lots of activity goes on behind the scenes, but the purpose of this article is to show the "display and interpretation" side of things, so let's take a look! -

CLICK ON PHOTOS FOR ENLARGEMENTS, THEN GO "BACK."

Vancouver is a beautiful city in British Columbia, on the West Coast of Canada. Next to the downtown core is Stanley Park, a carefully preserved peninsula of natural forest. Stanley Park is seen here as the strip of greenery on the left. The Vancouver Aquarium is one of the few buildings allowed in the Park.
For location, go to MAP

Approaching the Vancouver Aquarium from one of the parking lots, a grassy slope contains "Painters' Circle," where local artists daily set up displays of their work for sale. A few of them like to paint fish!

British Columbia is the home of several species of Pacific salmon. A stream near the Aquarium has been rehabilitated to its natural state. The B.C. Hydro Salmon Project released 10,000 salmon fry here in 1998, and now adult salmon are once more returning to spawn.

The entrance area of the Vancouver Aquarium features this bronze sculpture of a killer whale, in native Haida Indian style.

Admission is $15.95 for adults, $11.95 for seniors, students and youth, and $8.95 for children aged 4 to 12. Annual memberships, with unlimited admissions, can be purchased for adult $38, family $95, students etc. $30, children $24. (Canadian $10 = U.S.$7.60)

Opposite the entrance, each of the fish on this wall commemorates individuals or companies who have donated $25,000 or more to the Vancouver Public Aquarium Association.

The Aquarium is divided into several sections: "Treasures of the B.C. Coast" where native fish are displayed; the "Tropic Zone" with all kinds of tropical Pacific marine and freshwater fishes and a walk-through Amazon Rainforest exhibition; "Arctic Canada" where outdoor pools contain beluga whales; "Wild Coast" where sea otters, harbour seals, Steller's sea lions and porpoises are seen; and an underground complex which has interpretative displays and other facilities.

This sign shows the layout of the Vancouver Aquarium

"Treasures of the B.C. Coast" exhibits some of the coldwater fish of the Pacific Ocean.

Barkley Sound is on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Perch and coho salmon are found there. In front of this and other tanks are information touch screens.

The large tank on the right contains several species of B.C.'s most colourful fish, the rockfish.

Here is a yelloweye rockfish and some yellowtail rockfish....

....a juvenile black rockfish, tiger and canary rockfish, and a China rockfish.

Other tanks contain striped perch and shiner perch.

This giant Pacific octopus is popular with visitors.

There are lots of smaller tanks which are worth examining closely...

Bay pipefish are well camouflaged amongst the reeds...

...and this juvenile cabazon is hard to spot amongst the rocks.

The penpoint gunnel can find a home anywhere.

These amazing creatures are not human feet! - but are lion (or 'hooded') udibranchs (Melibe neonina). They are gelatinous sea slugs that hang on to seaweeds and capture zooplankton prey.

Moon jellyfish are a little more familiar.

There are some freshwater tanks. The juvenile pumpkinseed sunfish is an introduced fish in B.C., but the rainbow trout is native, and this large specimen must weigh about 20lbs.

The B.C. Coast section also has an exhibit of frogs, called "Ribbitting Experience" where 150 species and varieties of frogs are displayed. Most of the frogs are small and like to hide, but I did get this photo of a large bullfrog.

The other main division of the indoor displays is the Tropical Gallery:

Entrance to the "Tropic Zone"

A popular feature is a tank which contains black-tipped reef sharks, turtles, southern stingrays, and other large creatures.

The top of the tank curves up over the viewers.

Smaller tanks contain other fish, both freshwater and salt.

Here are lion fish, a moray eel, and a blue-fin trevally.

The tanks are all "biotope aquariums" - they replicate the natural surroundings that the different fish would naturally live in. For extra realism the piranha tank comes complete with an animal skull. Clown loaches are familiar to everyone.

A subdivision of the Tropic Zone is the Graham Amazon Gallery. What are these people looking at?

...They are getting up close to the inhabitants of the Amazon "Giant Fishes" tank.

The arapaima fascinate everyone. The largest is 7ft. long.

And the red-tailed catfish is another large fish. In the second photo he is swimming over a stingray.

Beyond this is a large walk-through conservatory where the Amazon Forest is replicated.

In the Amazon Rainforest Gallery the sun shines through the glass roof and the air is hot and humid. It is just like being in the Amazon.

If you look carefully you can spot a variety of Amazon creatures, such as this two-toed sloth, scarlet ibis, and turtle. Ducks, caiman and fish swim in the ponds. In summer months, thousands of butterflies fly free amongst the trees.

This green iguana was having a few weeks' "holiday" in a tank of his own, getting a dose of the special light he needs.

After the heat and humidity of the Amazon Rainforest it is nice to go outside for some fresh air and perhaps some lunch.

The cafe has outside tables.

Whilst eating lunch you can sit and observe the beluga whales. There used to be two, but now there are three - in July 2002 baby "Tuvaq" was born.

Afterwards you can go downstairs to see the belugas from below. How about this for a large aquarium!

Throughout the day, regular shows are held in the Wild Coast Exhibit. The well-trained Pacific white-sided dolphin jumps, retrieves balls and does other tricks.

At the end of the show the dolphin leaps out and lays on the dock.

This large pool, now divided in two, used to contain what was once the Aquarium's main attraction - killer whales. Killer whales were long thought to be mindless greedy predators that competed with humans for valuable salmon. Fishermen would shoot them on sight, and there were even machine guns set up along the coast to eliminate as many as possible.

Then for four decades the Vancouver Aquarium displayed wild-caught killer whales. They were trained to do tricks and demonstrate their intelligence, and audiences were informed all about them. They were bred at the Aquarium. This completely changed people's views about killer whales - in fact so successfully that by the '90s it was considered unethical to catch them and keep them in captivity. The last killer whale left the Aquarium in 2001, but the Aquarium had already agreed, as part of its lease, that it would not catch, or cause to be caught, any killer whales after 1996.

The sea otters don't do any tricks, but it is nice to see them being fed and to be told about their life histories.

After their meal the otters laze contentedly with their arms entwined.

The Steller sea lions are friendly too.

One of the stated objectives of the Vancouver Aquarium is to educate the public about the exhibits they see and about conservation matters. There are many informative signs such as these.

A lower level contains displays and information about whales.

This is "Orca FM, a live broadcast of sounds from Robson Bight." The sounds that killer whales make are kept track of day and night, as part of a research project.

In the late '70s, the Vancouver Aquarium sponsored several expeditions in search of the coelacanth, a primitive "living fossil" fish that was once thought to have become extinct millions of years ago. This is a preserved specimen.

Also underground is a small gift arcade, featuring such things as these Inuit carvings of whales.

And there is also "Clownfish Cove," a play and learning area for young children.

Returning up to the main floor level, one passes by this 69,000 gallon "Strait of Georgia" aquarium, which contains fish from the immediate vicinity of Vancouver, including a school of herring...

...and sturgeons, rockfish and coho salmon.

To exit the Aquarium, one must pass through the "Clamshell" gift and souvenir shop.

There are fish and whale related objects of many kinds...

...including lots of Inuit stone carvings.

If your taste runs to shiny things, then these are for you.

Aquarists have lots of fun. This is their underwear. Musicians presumably wear these too, but with a different picture. (Think about it!).

More fish, and beluga whales.

At the time of my visit it was almost Christmas - well, late October anyway - so lots of fishy Christmas decorations were out on display.

These Christmas tree ornaments have native Haida Indian designs.

On the way back to downtown Vancouver, a causeway passes by Lost Lagoon, which is a freshwater lake where swans breed and which contains lots of common carp.

I hope you have enjoyed these views of some of the Aquarium's inhabitants. According to its web site, the Vancouver Aquarium contains "62,198 aquatic creatures, of 800 species" - assuming, presumably, that the guppies haven't been too prolific lately and the frogs aren't spawning today! Find out more by visiting the Aquarium's web site at http://www.vanaqua.org

I'm not connected to the Vancouver Aquarium in any way, and paid for my admission just like any other tourist. The views expressed here are mine alone, with no outside influences. But I would like to thank my friend Lee Newman, Curator of Tropical Fishes at the Aquarium, who read this article and made some factual suggestions.