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Deep Inside an Ancient Oregon Coast Aquarium
Excerpt : Sea cucumbers. Sea lemons. Sea lettuce. These are the words I hear from Seaside Aquarium staff recently. What is this??? Some kooky seafood salad recipe? Manager Keith Chandler tells me this is
Manager Keith Chandler tells me this is among his bounty on this day, after having gone down to Netarts Bay - on the Oregon Coast - and grabbed a few species for the aquarium. He holds up a sea cucumber to my face and makes motions like it's moving to attack me - in a parody of an old horror flick or something. This purplish, bumpy freaky thing, it turns out, is related to starfish and sand dollars. All this takes me back to my first tour of the historical landmark - the Seaside Aquarium, in the northern Oregon coast resort town of Seaside. It's early summer 2004, and the aquarium was just the recipient of five brand new seal pups born in recent months. I, and a couple others from the local paper, receive a little tour of the facility, getting a chance to look at the nearly 70-year-old aquarium.
The seal pups splash and cavort,
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Another two were born a few months earlier, named Lewis & Clark, after the explorers who some two centuries ago actually wandered around the area that would become this town. Part of the eternal big fun of the aquarium is feeding the seals, which visitors can do after purchasing a cheap bag of yummies for these water-slapping, barking and comical creatures. Keith tells me all the seals are related, breeding with cousins and other family members, but says this hasn't degenerated their gene pool - yet - and there are no signs it will.
We wander to the
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Inside this behind-the-scenes area, it's like a labyrinth of wooden structures, walkways above you, corridors of tanks and other functional equipment. It's a little spooky, actually. All around are old, old remnants of the aquarium's history, including a sign about Clara the seal, who had a messed up-looking eye. It stated she was in no pain, and that one of her favorite
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This place was actually a natatorium in the 20's, until the Depression killed its economic feasibility in the early 30's. This was a warm, saltwater public bath, with water pumped in from the sea through a pipe (still visible today at the tide line) and then heated. Around the walls were balconies so people could watch others swim in the pool below. For a time, the place served as a salmon rearing facility, and then a place to watch wrestling matches. The aquarium was started in 1937, making it one of the oldest in the entire nation.
Keith leads us down a stairway some ten feet to a dank-smelling basement, with three giant holes in the ground, filled with rocks. This is the former deep end of the pool, Keith says, and the holes are the filters for the seawater that feeds into the tanks. Each hole spills into another, until water is finally pumped from the bottom of the
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That pipe is still used to bring water into the aquarium, lying six to 20 feet under the sand, depending on its location. Regular visitors to the area will notice it occasionally changes shape out on the tide line. This is because sands shift and they need to periodically reconfigure it to keep it from being smothered. Fast forward again to the day I encounter Keith after his trip to Netarts. I'm hanging out behind the scenes again, and his assistant Tiffany shows me a little yellow critter called a sea lemon. If you smell it closely, it does smell a bit like a lemon. There are, apparently, also creatures called sea lettuce on reefs. Tiffany holds up a sea cucumber, and out of curiosity I move close to sniff it. This place is full of pranksters, and Tiffany says, "you almost kissed a sea cucumber" - admitting she almost shoved it into my face.
They show me starfish, including
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The public area of the aquarium showcases dozens of sea species, along with a touch tank and the opportunity to feed those adorable seals. There's nothing like just hanging out, having fun with pranksters and still learning something. I did, however, get my own prank in: I crank called Keith's cell phone a week later. 200 N. Prom, Seaside, Oregon. www.seasideaquarium.com (503) 738-6211.
For more on the Seaside area, see http://www.beachconnection.net/vtour_seaside.htm Andre' Hagestedt is editor of Beach Connection, a tourism publication covering the upper half of Oregon's coast - some 180 miles.
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