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Our local waters are home to some truly amazing fish—according to our friends at the Burke Museum, 253 species of fish have been recorded in the Salish Sea. (Curious about what waters are encompassed by that term? The Salish Sea includes Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the Strait of Georgia and the waters around the San Juan islands and Canada’s Gulf islands—roughly 6,500 square miles altogether.)

That’s a lot of fish in the (Salish) Sea! And today, we’re bringing you highlights of some of our favorites, plus three fast facts about each.

We’re excited to kick off our second week of online engagement with the Aquarium as we all continue to practice social distancing. Last week we featured Sea Otter Week—if you missed it, make sure to check out some of the learning opportunities we posted on our blog and the fun activities we shared through social media.

This week, April 6–10 we’re excited to feature some of the unique fish species that make their homes in Puget Sound and the greater Salish Sea. Ever wonder how old different fish species can get? Interested in learning about what a veterinary exam looks like for a wolf eel? Make sure you tune in for a full week of online learning and fun!

We’ve been learning a lot about sea otters this week as we practice social distancing. We learned about the otters under the Seattle Aquarium’s care, we tested our ability to count wild otters in the field, and we met some of our incredible staff who shared fun facts about what makes sea otters so special.

Now it’s time to test your knowledge with a few trivia questions!

Every year the Seattle Aquarium participates in the annual Washington sea otter survey, organized and run by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The Aquarium has participated in the sea otter survey since 2001 and has expanded on this important work by conducting our own sea otter foraging research, including bimonthly surveys, along Washington’s outer coast.

The Seattle Aquarium may not be open to the public during these challenging times, but we wanted to take a moment to bring our amazing animals to you. This week we’re featuring some of our furry favorites—the sea otters! Check out our weekly schedule of activities and engagement opportunities to learn more as we all stay at home and practice social distancing.

We’re all doing our part to help fight the spread of COVID-19 by practicing social distancing—which means the Aquarium is currently closed to the public. But even if you can’t come to the Aquarium, our dedicated staff are hard at work to bring the Aquarium to you!

I hope, first and foremost, that you are taking care of yourself and your loved ones during these unprecedented and difficult times. The closure of the Aquarium due to the COVID-19 crisis has been painful for the Aquarium staff, volunteers and board, our passionate members and supporters, and for me personally.

My heart goes out to each of you as we navigate this moment in history that has brought our great city to a standstill.

The Seattle Aquarium Connections program

The Connections program is a product of the Aquarium’s aim to be inclusive and welcoming to all. With your support, the program distributed over 84,000 complimentary admission tickets to more than 350 partner agencies in 2019 alone. It also offers low-cost memberships to audiences served by these agencies and provides outreach programming to many of them as well.

Please enjoy these highlights and quotes from just a few of the organizations we’ve partnered with across the community!

Divers are a big part of the Aquarium experience—they chat with guests during daily shows and can often be spotted working inside our exhibits—but did you know that many of these people are volunteers? The Aquarium is extremely fortunate to have a crew of approximately 100 volunteer divers, and we’re always looking for more!

We asked two volunteer divers to talk with us about why they love diving at the Aquarium, and what keeps them coming back: Jim Middleton has been volunteering with us for over 27 years and has racked more than 10,000 hours of service; Carina Martin relocated to Seattle a couple years ago and has been an active volunteer ever since.

Ned and Susan are strong believers in the importance of conservation and education, and have been active Aquarium supporters since 2004. “We especially value the experiences that the Aquarium offers youth,” says Susan. Adds Ned, “Yes, we’ve always been impressed with the many school buses lined up along Alaskan Way—bringing kids from all around the region to learn and explore at the Aquarium.”

First of all: What is an alcid? It’s a type of seabird that’s a member of the auk family and breeds in the colder parts of the northern hemisphere. The Aquarium’s Bird & Shores exhibit is home to several of these black-and-white diving seabirds with short necks: guillemots, murres, auklets and puffins.

Studies have shown that the communities least responsible for environmental degradation most often take the brunt of it.

Other studies demonstrate a lack of diversity in conservation organizations—and a “green ceiling” effect means that the diversity that does exist is primarily at the entry level and decreases at higher (managerial and executive) levels.

The Seattle Aquarium is working to address both of these issues with its new empathy fellowship program: Facilitated by the newly created position of empathy fellowship coordinator, three empathy fellows will join our staff early this year.