Discover and explore marine life that lives in tide pools at local beaches. Learn about these local residents while seeing how they act and what they feel like. See the animals move around while they react to the world around them.

All of the animals in the Salt Water Tide Pool were collected from around the Puget Sound region, and the water in the tank is the same temperature as Puget Sound – a chilly 12-degree Celsius. The cold water helps keep the animals healthy and holds more oxygen than warmer water.

Our Salt Water Tide Pool exhibit includes an accessibility pool.

Tide Pool Animals

Sea stars prey on mussels, barnacles, and other small animals. They have hundreds of tube feet on their bottom side that help them move to find food, as well as help them stay attached to rocks as waves crash over them. Sea stars also come in many different colors, such as purple, orange, pink, and blue!

Sea anemones may look like flowers, but they are animals that move in response to touch. They eat by grabbing food with their tentacles and bringing it to the hole in their center that acts as a mouth.

Sea urchins are vegetarians who enjoy eating seaweed. They use their tube feet to carry food to their mouths, as well as to hold onto shells, bits of gravel, or anything else they can find. PacSci’s urchins often cover with the plant life and rocks in the Tide Pool.

Prepare for Your Visit

• All guests are asked to rinse their hands in an adjacent sink prior to touching the animals. This is to remove all soaps and lotions.
• Guests are asked to gently touch the animals in shallow water to observe how they react, and to not pick them up and move them.