Page 2 – Seattle Aquarium

Marine ink-spiration: Tattoos of the Seattle Aquarium, part 3—tropical edition

Posted on January 29, 2025January 29, 2025 by Emma Leiser

Last year, we shared two web stories about Seattle Aquarium team members who show their passion for marine life with a variety of incredible tattoos (check out part 1 and part 2 if you haven’t already!).

Now, to continue celebrating the recent opening of our Ocean Pavilion, we bring you our next installment, featuring some of the people who work with the tropical animals in our care—and their amazing tattoos.

We hope you enjoy hearing from these four outstanding folks and learning the stories behind their ink!

“When I got this tattoo, I just wanted to showcase the ridiculousness of the idea that sharks are man-eaters. It was foretelling my future and I didn't even know it.”

—Amber Ginther (she/her), supervisor of tropical fish and invertebrates

Working with sharks so closely, I get to see how great they are—just so majestic and inspiring. The love that I’ve developed for them is really understanding their gentle nature and that, like any other animal, they’re just trying to live life. To me, they have a really calming presence. The way they move through the water, how they’re alert to their surroundings. And their playfulness. I wish people knew how gentle they are. And that there’s really no reason to fear them.

Sharks, in some of their social systems—especially great hammerheads—are very matriarchal. The females hold the dominant role in the school. At least that’s what we’ve noticed with sharks in human care. Maybe the world should take note.

I’m a descendant from the Southern Tewa tribe and Mescalero Apache tribe and recently did a project on Indigenous science, how it evolved, and how we can incorporate it to see things from an animal’s perspective. I think that’s the way we do better at animal care, through deep empathy. And part of Indigenous science is really conjuring that empathy.

As an Indigenous person, I connect personally with the Aquarium’s mission. A lot of Indigenous people are trying to keep their traditions alive, traditions that have disappeared over time because of colonization. I think that’s why conservation is so important to me—it’s more than just conserving an animal or land, it’s about conserving tradition and the traditional knowledge that has helped us manage lands since time immemorial.

We’re conserving these things not to conserve the past or the memory, but to help the future move forward without them completely disappearing. I feel very close with the mission at the Aquarium—in my own personal mission of recapturing traditional ways of being.

—Amber Ginther (she/her), supervisor of tropical fish and invertebrates

“I’ve always had a curiosity and love for the ocean. I grew up in a landlocked state so it wasn't something that I could just go and see.”

—Makayla Taylor (she/her), aquarist

I remember going to an aquarium for the first time as a kid. I was enamored with everything—watching people feed the fish and the sharks and thinking, “Wow, I want to do that.”

I did an internship here at the Aquarium in 2020, then got a part-time job at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. That’s where I first encountered spotted eagle rays—two of them are actually here now. It’s really cool that it worked out like that because I’ve known them for almost five years and gotten to work with them quite extensively.

A lot of people don’t know that spotted eagle rays are identified by their head spots: Each pattern is unique. For my tattoo, I worked with the artist to make sure that the spots are in the same pattern as one of the eagle rays that I worked with closely at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium.

The best parts of my job are definitely feeding and training. Seeing the animals make those connections and feel more comfortable with us, building that relationship of trust. Because they’re so intelligent, training them for their feeds and different veterinary procedures has been an incredible journey. The three spotted eagle rays in our care have pretty different personalities. One of them is rambunctious. One is more even. And the juvenile is a healthy mix of the other two.

But they all love clams. We feed them the whole clam—shell and everything. They’ve got these crushing plates, kind of like a row of teeth, on the top and bottom. They use them like a nutcracker, basically, and just crunch up the clams. They need crunchy food to help them shed their teeth, so they crush the shells and eat the clam inside. They love it.

—Makayla Taylor (she/her), aquarist
Tattoo by Jasmine, @inkedbyjasmine

“Just because we live here, it doesn't mean that animals on the other side of the ocean aren't affected by our actions. It's important to view it all as one system.”

—Casey Zinkievich (she/her), aquarist

My dad took me fishing when I was little and the first time I saw a bass, I thought it was the coolest thing ever. From there, I just got really into fish. Not even pretty, tropical ones—weird, ugly freshwater fish that you see in lakes and rivers. That’s why I was so into it when my first job was with freshwater biology even though I specialized in marine biology.

I was hired by the Missouri conservation department and they had a side project for critically endangered pallid sturgeon. Learning about them and then actually seeing them blew me away. They’re so weird and ancient-looking that you wouldn’t really expect them to have personalities, but they definitely do.

It’s not tropical versus temperate or freshwater versus marine: I’m equal opportunity—I love all fish. I work with tropical fish now but I’ll always have a special place in my heart for sturgeon.

The reason I started to care about these creatures was because my dad took me fishing when I was a kid and I understood that these animals are important. We need to take care of them. Maybe not everyone gets that opportunity or would be inspired by seeing a bass. But when you come to the Aquarium and see these amazing animals that you might never get to see in the wild, it really makes you appreciate them and want to protect them. And it’s my job to make sure they have the best life possible, so when people come to the Aquarium, they can be inspired by happy, healthy animals that are thriving.

—Casey Zinkievich (she/her), aquarist

“The biggest thing we can do is educate people. Showing them these animals and their habitats so they know it's not scary and dangerous. It's just this other world that we share a planet with.”

—Charmaine von Kriegenbergh (she/her), associate curator of tropical fish and invertebrates

When I was little, we were watching an episode of Reading Rainbow where LeVar Burton talks to a marine biologist. I asked my mom, “What does that mean?” She told me and I said, “Great, I’m going to do that.” In college, I got a bachelor’s in biological sciences with a marine biology emphasis.

The bowmouth guitarfish on my arm is in honor of Rhina, the one we have here. I was her primary aquarist and developed her training plan—I just fell in love with her. It’s my first tattoo of an animal that I’ve worked with.

Bowmouth guitarfish are unique animals and the first thing we learned was that they are incredibly messy. Their diet is 60 to 80% crustaceans—shrimp and Dungeness crab in the shell, Pacific spiny lobster with the carapace—and they can digest it, but a lot gets pooped out with big chunks of shell. Rhina also leaves a trail of shells in her wake while she’s eating. She’s just really messy.

The day she moved into the Ocean Pavilion, I was snorkeling and helped guide her out of the acclimation pool and into The Reef habitat. I was sobbing underwater, seeing her swim out. It was such an exciting moment and I was so proud of the team, how everyone worked together to accomplish it so smoothly.

I think giving our guests the opportunity to really connect with the animals in our care is the biggest impact we can make. Going to aquariums as a kid and getting the opportunity to see and learn about animals that I never would have seen otherwise is what made me love them. It’s why I wanted to get into this this field.

—Charmaine von Kriegenbergh (she/her), associate curator of tropical fish and invertebrates
Tattoo by Tasi Tautolo, @tasitoss
Zebra shark, tiger shark, hammerhead shark and manta ray tattoos by Alexandra Grace, @alexandrastabs

Want to learn more about spotted eagle rays, bowmouth guitarfish and sturgeon? Visit the Seattle Aquarium to see them in person—who knows, you may even spot one of the team members featured here! Plan a visit today.

Shark and ray populations halved in just 50 years, but solutions offer hope

Posted on January 24, 2025January 24, 2025 by Emma Leiser

This year, the Seattle Aquarium welcomed beautiful sharks and rays to the warm waters of our Ocean Pavilion expansion. These animals came from other accredited zoos and aquariums or were diverted from the commercial fish trade. But in the ocean, large fishes like these are disappearing, mainly due to human activity.

Sharks and rays, along with deepwater chimaeras, are part of a class of fishes known as Chondrichthyes. Though they have lived on Earth for hundreds of millions of years, today about one-third of these species face extinction.

But marine scientists will not let these important fishes sink quietly into oblivion.

A team of researchers, including the Seattle Aquarium’s species recovery program manager Riley Pollom, spent years studying patterns of their decline and developing an aquatic Red List Index to study the threat of their extinction.

“Sharks and rays are one of the oldest evolutionary lineages on the planet. They’re part of our global heritage. And if we lose any of those species, we’re losing millions of years of evolutionary adaptation.”

—Riley Pollom, species recovery program manager, Seattle Aquarium

Sinking population numbers

The study comes at a crucial time. Since 1970, Chondrichthyan populations have decreased by over 50%, according to the team’s analysis, which was published in the journal Science last month. Sharks and rays are threatened primarily by overfishing, being targeted or accidently caught as bycatch. Other threats include pollution, habitat loss and climate change.

Declines in shark and ray populations tend to begin close to land—like in rivers, estuaries and coastal waters—before spreading outward, to the upper part of the open ocean and finally to the deep sea.

This worrying trend spells trouble for their ecosystems. These large fishes play important roles in their habitats, including predation, foraging and moving nutrients around different parts of the ocean. Without them, food webs can break down and the effects ripple through the ecosystem.

Lending a hand to our finned friends

Tools like the Red List Index can help governments and other organizations track population losses and determine whether their policies and actions are making meaningful strides for conservation and population recovery.

Governments can help species recover by creating and enforcing sustainable fisheries management measures. Fisheries management refers to setting, enforcing and monitoring strict limits on how many animals can be caught, where and when they can be caught, and other important rules. Some countries have seen progress in species recovery, but more work remains to be done.

“A first step for species recovery is fisheries management. But there are some species, like Indo-Pacific leopard sharks, that are so depleted that they need an extra helping hand to replenish their wild populations.”

—Riley Pollom, species recovery program manager, Seattle Aquarium

One method of helping populations recover is by directly introducing more sharks to their wild home waters. That’s the idea behind ReShark, a global coalition—of which the Seattle Aquarium is a founding member—that works to restore wild shark populations, starting with the Indo-Pacific leopard shark.

Accredited aquariums help sharks already in human care reproduce, and transport the eggs to nurseries in the Indo-Pacific. Once hatched, the sharks are reared, tagged and released into marine protected areas, where fisheries are effectively restricted. Right now, the Seattle Aquarium serves as the North American hub for these egg transports. Once fully mature, the Indo-Pacific leopard shark in our care will help directly contribute eggs to this effort.

We can do our part by voting for politicians who support marine-friendly practices and pressuring those in office to do more to help the ocean and its inhabitants. Choosing sustainable seafood is also a great way to protect sharks, rays and other fishes. The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch is a helpful guide for making ocean-friendly dining choices.

The densest fur of any animal on Earth: All about sea otters

Posted on December 30, 2024December 30, 2024 by Emma Leiser

How many hairs do you have on your head? Most humans have about 100,000, give or take a few. But sea otters have anywhere between 500,000 and 1,000,000 hairs per square inch of skin—meaning that one inch of a sea otter’s fur has between five and 10 times the number of hairs you have on your entire head!

Would you like fries and a shake with your 160 burgers?

Sea otters need their thick fur to keep warm because, unlike marine mammals such as harbor seals, they don’t have a blubber layer. Instead, they rely on their fur and extra-high metabolisms to do the job.

Those metabolisms require a lot of fuel, which leads us to another amazing sea otter fact: they eat about 25% of their body weight every day. (Think of your body weight. That’s how many quarter-pound burgers you’d need to eat, each and every day, to keep up with a sea otter! Put another way, a person weighing 160 pounds would need to eat roughly 40 pounds of food a day—can you imagine?)

Imagine eating 25% of your body weight every single day! Sea otters make it look pretty fun, don’t they?

Ecosystem superstars

Unfortunately, that dense fur is the reason that sea otters in the Pacific Northwest were hunted to extinction at the turn of the 19th century. The good news is that they’re now protected from hunting. And, after a repopulation effort in the 1960s, when many otters were collected from Alaska and re-released off the coast of Washington, they’ve made a recovery in our state.

That’s not just a good thing for the otters, it’s good for the entire ecosystem. Sea otters are what’s called a keystone species, which means they help hold the entire ecosystem together, and without them, the ecosystem would change drastically—and not in a good way. For instance, sea otters in the wild eat a lot of sea urchins. Sea urchins eat kelp, among other things. Without otters eating the urchins, there would be less kelp. And kelp forests provide a critical habitat for all kinds of animals, including endangered orcas, salmon and pinto abalone.

Bonus reading: Our research team monitors populations of key species, including sea otters; learn more on our marine populations webpage.

Check out this video of researchers, including folks from the Seattle Aquarium team, monitoring the sea otter population and ecosystem health on a spectacularly beautiful day along Washington’s outer coast.

Come say hello to Sekiu and Mishka!

We have two female sea otters in our care at the Seattle Aquarium: Sekiu, who was born right here in 2012; and Mishka, who came to us in 2015 after being caught in a fishing net as a young pup and being deemed non-releasable by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. (Another fast fact: every bird and mammal in our care was either born in a zoo or aquarium or rescued and deemed non-releasable—you can read more on our animal wellbeing page).

Want to learn more about sea otters? Explore our sea otter webpage. Better yet, plan a visit to the Seattle Aquarium to see Sekiu and Mishka in person! You can also make a difference for them, and for sea otters everywhere, by taking action on behalf of the marine environment. Even small changes can help the otters, their habitat and the one world ocean we all depend on. Explore our take action page to get started!

Mishka and Sekiu enjoying some well-earned relaxation after a day full of playing, eating and grooming.

What do candles, cozy clothes and clownfish have in common?

Posted on December 13, 2024December 13, 2024 by Emma Leiser

They all start with the letter C, obviously! But there’s more: It turns out that they all can have a role in reducing the effects of the winter blues.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, many of us struggle with what’s been called the Big Dark—the often gray, chilly, wet and dreary stretch of days in the late fall and winter, when the sun goes down before 5pm and doesn’t rise again until well after 7am. What can we do to not only survive, but thrive, during this time of year?

We turned to an expert for ideas. Kari Leibowitz, Ph.D., is a health psychologist, speaker and writer who has extensively studied the effects of winter on people’s moods and sense of wellbeing. She shares her research and more in her recently published book, How to Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark or Difficult Days. And she kindly agreed to talk with us about the particular challenges of winter in the Northwest.

Q: What inspired your studies?

A: I was intrigued by the research of Joar Vittersø, a world-leading psychologist who studies happiness, meaning and personal growth. He’s also a professor at the University of Tromsø, the northernmost university in the world, 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle. People there experience two months of “polar night,” the time during winter when the sun doesn’t rise above the horizon. Yet research shows that they have relatively low rates of seasonal affective disorder, or winter depression, compared to how far north they are. I was inspired to try to understand how people there made it through such long, dark winters without getting depressed.

Q: In your writings, you suggest developing a “positive winter mindset” to combat the potential effects of the season. Here in the Northwest, our winters are often dark, gray and rainy—not so much a snowy wonderland. What are some things we can do to help brighten our moods?

A: My research found that seeing winter as special and full of opportunity was associated with greater life satisfaction and more positive emotions. One important strategy is to work with the darkness: make it cozy inside by lighting candles and using soft lamps. This might sound trivial, but it turns long, gray days from a bummer into an opportunity for ambiance.

Another strategy is to dress in warm, waterproof clothes and go outside in the rain: It often looks much worse from inside than it is outside. If you venture out, properly dressed, the chill air can feel crisp and bracing and the rain can make the city feel soft and quiet—it’s actually much more enjoyable than most people expect.

And finally, I would encourage people to really notice the weather. Places like Seattle have a reputation for rain, but the weather is often more interesting—and more variable—than we give it credit for. Really paying attention to the weather can help us find fascination and curiosity in winter, and also can help us notice when there are sunny days amid the rain.

Q: You shared with us that you love aquariums. Do you see a connection between going to an aquarium and embracing a positive winter mindset?

A: I think there is something very peaceful about the atmosphere of aquariums. It can create a mood that is really calm and peaceful. The things I love about aquariums—really just looking, taking it all in and slowing down—are things that are especially well-suited to winter.

Q: Does your relationship to the ocean come into play when you’re shifting into your winter mindset?

A: I think being near water—if you’re lucky enough—can be a really beautiful way to embrace winter. The way that water reflects the sky and the weather can bring a lot of fascination to winter weather, which is often more changeable and interesting than summer weather. I think most people think of summery beaches when they think of the ocean, but we know that cold oceans are so rich and teeming with life, and being near the water in winter—watching the waves crash if it’s windy, or smelling the cold air coming off the sea—can really engage our senses at this time of year.

We thank Kari for sharing her thoughts and expertise with us!

Want to start working on your own case of the winter blues? First, blow out your candle. Then put on your cozy clothes and head to the Seattle Aquarium (stop to smell the air coming off Elliott Bay on your way!). Explore Piers 59 and 60 to get to know some of the amazing animals that make their homes in our local waters, and discover fascinating tropical creatures (including clownfish, sharks and more) hailing from the Coral Triangle in our new, warm and light-filled Ocean Pavilion. Plan a visit today!

Symbiotic relationships in the ocean remind us to help each other out during the Big Dark

Posted on December 6, 2024December 13, 2024 by Emma Leiser

Here in the Pacific Northwest, the sun may be a distant memory by now, but still burning bright is the warmth that our loved ones bring to our lives.

People tend to gather together during this time of year, often for fall and winter holidays. Braving the dark and cold to visit a loved one is a great way to make this season feel a little lighter. And if you’re someone who finds this time of year particularly challenging, leaning on your community becomes more important than ever.

In nature, different species often work together. Symbiosis occurs when two creatures live and work closely together for a long time. There are three types of symbiotic relationships: mutualism, where both creatures benefit; commensalism, where one creature benefits without harming or helping the other; and parasitism, where one creature benefits at the expense of the other.

The ocean is full of symbiosis, from tiny algae working with corals to massive whales giving rides to barnacles. Some of those relationships are also thriving at the Seattle Aquarium. Here are four mutualistic or communalistic relationships featuring Aquarium animals that remind us of the importance of helping out our community.

Clownfish and anemones

Anemones may have a prickly exterior—literally, they use their tentacles to sting, paralyze and eat their prey—but they open up for their best buddies: clownfish! Clownfish are also known as anemonefish because of the close relationship between these two reef dwellers.

Clownfish secrete a special mucus, which allows them to slip by the anemone’s defense system unharmed, giving the clownfish a safe place to live. But clownfish make great guests! They lure would-be predator fish to the anemone, which can sting and eat those fish instead. Clownfish and anemones can also enjoy scraps from each other’s meals.

You can see clownfish and anemones hanging out in the At Home in the Ocean habitat of the Ocean Pavilion.

Corals and algae

Corals are pretty popular. They have beneficial symbiotic relationships with many ocean creatures. But their closest relationship may be with the algae that live in their tissues.

Corals give these algae, known as zooxanthellae, a safe place to live. They also provide carbon dioxide, which the algae need. Algae make their own food with carbon dioxide, water and sunlight through a process called photosynthesis. In return, the algae provide their coral hosts with the sugars and other nutrients that are byproducts of photosynthesis. Zooxanthellae also give many corals their vibrant coloring!

Warming ocean temperatures can cause corals to expel their zooxanthellae, resulting in coral bleaching. While not always fatal, this can weaken corals and sometimes leads to their deaths. To learn about how to help corals, visit our corals webpage. And to see healthy, thriving corals, visit habitats across the Aquarium, including two spots in our new Ocean Pavilion: The Archipelago and At Home in the Ocean.

Moray eels and groupers

Getting together with friends for a meal is always a good time. But when you’re a moray eel, you have to hunt down dinner first. Luckily, morays have a hunting buddy in the roving coral grouper.

Researchers have observed giant morays engaging in “cooperative hunting” with roving coral groupers. The fishes kick off the hunt with a shake of their heads. The eels chase prey in the coral reefs, pushing them upwards where the groupers lurk just above the reef. The groupers return the favor by chasing prey into the “protection” of the reef and into the path of the morays.

You can see well-fed moray eels swimming and hiding in The Reef at the Ocean Pavilion. At the Aquarium, morays don’t need to hunt. Instead, our animal care team feeds them using a special protected tube that the eel enters where the other fish cannot steal their food.

Whales and barnacles

A good friend is someone who will give you a ride to the airport. Some species of barnacles take hitching a ride one step further by attaching themselves to the massive, moving bodies of whales.

The barnacles benefit by gaining access to the plankton-rich waters where both they and the whales feed. And whales make great protectors from barnacles’ natural predators, like snails and seabirds. While barnacles add extra weight to the whales—nearly a thousand pounds in some cases—whales weigh tens of thousands of pounds, so the barnacles are very light in comparison.

Much is still unknown about whale barnacles. They’re frequently observed, but it’s difficult for researchers to study them since their adult bodies are permanently attached to ever-moving marine goliaths. To see different species of barnacles (staying still!), check out habitats throughout Piers 59 and 60.

Stay connected

Coming face to face with the many marine species that work together every day is a great way to remember that life is better when we help each other. We rely on other humans—and on other members of our ecosystems—so don’t be afraid to offer or ask for help. Just like zooxanthellae, you can bring color to a loved one’s life by being there.

Plan a visit to the Seattle Aquarium to introduce yourself to these cooperative creatures. Better yet, bring a friend!

How Kendy makes it a day at the waterfront

Posted on November 13, 2024December 24, 2024 by Emma Leiser

Kendy, a passionate marine conservationist, partnered with the Seattle Aquarium to map out the perfect waterfront itinerary for lovers of marine life. See how Kendy blends learning, food and fun on the shores of Puget Sound—and get inspired for your next trip to the Aquarium.

Click the image below to see the full-size itinerary.

Download itinerary as a PDF

Kendy’s day at the waterfront

Passionate marine conservationist 

Follow along as I make it a day on the Seattle Waterfront. Let’s connect with some marine life! 

Stop 1: Honest Biscuits

Let’s fuel up before we start our adventure. Honest Biscuits is a must for breakfast, with delicious biscuits made fresh with local ingredients. My go-to order is a When Pigs Fly sandwich and a golden chai. 

Stop 2: Seattle Aquarium 

Come face-to-face with marine life and support the Aquarium’s conservation work, like species recovery programs for pinto abalone and Indo-Pacific leopard sharks. (Learn more about these sharks in the new Ocean Pavilion!) 

Stop 3: Pocket Beach

From the Aquarium, head north along the waterfront to check out this cool urban tide pooling spot. Keep an eye out for invertebrates, jellies, seals and even seagulls munching on sea stars! 

Stop 4: Bookstore

Pike Place Market has so many options for finding great reads on marine science, from Lionheart Bookstore to BLMF Literary Saloon to Left Bank Books Collective.

More Seattle waterfront itinerary highlights

Pier 62 
Habitat Beach
Eighth Generation (also available in the Aquarium gift shop)
Seattle waterfront sea wall
Bainbridge Island Ferry (potential orca spotting)
Beecher’s Handmade Cheese
Candied salmon/salmon jerky (at Totem Smokehouse in Pike Place Market)
Head north to Ballard Locks

Quiz: Check in with your seasonal vibes and learn about the water column

Posted on October 31, 2024December 13, 2024 by Emma Leiser

What makes a healthy ecosystem? A corpse, of course!

Posted on October 21, 2024October 21, 2024 by Emma Leiser

During Halloween, skeletons and other dead creatures make for great decorations. But did you know corpses play important roles in aquatic ecosystems year-round?

When animals die, their bodies are still full of nutrients. Nutrients are chemical substances that help living beings grow, repair themselves or maintain life. Humans need nutrients like carbohydrates, proteins and minerals.

Nature is not wasteful and there are many ways these nutrients can pass to other parts of the ecosystem. If an apple falls from its tree, straight to the ground, an animal might come along and gobble up its nutrients. Or the fruit might stay there and decomposers like worms, fungi and bacteria will help return its nutrients to the nearby soil.

Animal carcasses end up in similar scenarios: Someone eats them or they decompose into their environment. Often, both happen with the same carcass! Here are three fascinating types of marine corpses that play key roles in their ecosystems.

Night of the living salmon

Pacific salmon embark on the journey of a lifetime when they travel back from the ocean to the freshwater rivers and streams where they were born so they can reproduce, or spawn. When salmon return to rivers, their bodies bring with them important nutrients from the ocean. Along the way, some salmon are eaten by predators, who eagerly take in those nutrients for themselves.

After spawning, Pacific salmon naturally die and their carcasses feed many animals, including bears, wolves, small mammals, birds and insects. Those land-based animals can further pass nutrients from salmon to their environment through their waste. Whatever part of the salmon carcass is left over also gets broken down by microbes and erosion, giving nutrients to the surrounding soil and plant life. Salmon play a key role in supporting tree growth near riverbeds.

The nutrients from salmon have a distinct isotope signature that scientists use to track salmon’s impact in the local ecosystem. Researchers found that nutrients from salmon in Washington ended up in over 100 species of microbes and animals. The nutrients can reach animals up to seven miles away from their stream of origin.

During late summer and early fall, you can join Seattle Aquarium naturalists on the Cedar River to observe salmon. Because the Cedar River Salmon Journey occurs during the final days of salmon reproduction, we often see their carcasses along the river. And you can see salmon year-round, at various stages in their growth, on a visit to the Seattle Aquarium.

Creepy deep-sea feast

The massive, decaying corpse of a marine goliath would be hard to miss. Whale carcasses that wash up on shore are a big deal. And miles below the ocean’s surface, the scavengers and decomposers who live in the deep, dark waters of the seafloor also take notice.

When whales die in open waters, their bodies sink down to the bottom and end up as a buffet for these creatures of the deep, feeding them for years or even decades. This phenomenon is called a whale fall.

Entire ecosystems can pop up around whale carcasses. Different creatures feast on the carcass during different stages of its decomposition. The first to move in are the scavengers, including crabs, lobsters, sharks, octopuses and eels. These animals eat the whale’s meat and other soft tissue. When they’re done, other creatures like worms and snails move in to have their fill. Bone-eating bacteria and other microbes will spend years on the remaining skeleton. Nutrients from the carcass also enrich the seafloor’s surrounding sediment.

It’s rare for scientists to come across a natural whale fall. To study them in greater detail, researchers will sometimes intentionally sink whale carcasses that wash ashore. Now that’s an experiment that would make Frankenstein jealous!

Marine snow, seen here in the Gulf of Alaska, is made of “flakes” of bits of animal carcasses, dead plants, feces and sand, among other materials, that fall down to the seafloor. Video courtesy of NOAA/UAF/Oceaneering.

A ghostly snowfall

Snow in October? It might not be happening in Seattle, but down in the ocean’s depths, flurries of white are the norm. Marine snow is made of tiny plant-like organisms called phytoplankton combined with small bits of natural materials. That includes pieces from animal carcasses along with dead plants, animal feces and sand. When drifting through the water, these tiny specs look like the snow we see on land.

Like whale corpses, marine snow drifts downward. The snow “flakes” get larger as they go, gaining speed, but they still take weeks to reach the seafloor.

Along the way, some of the snow will be eaten by fish or marine mammals near the top or middle of the water column. Many benthic creatures, which are animals that live on the seafloor, rely on marine snow as a food source. They may filter the snow from the water directly or scavenge for it on the seafloor.

Uneaten marine snow accumulates in the “ooze” that covers the seafloor. And the bone-white snow also dusts the sunken ships and other marine debris of the ocean’s graveyard.

While corpse stories make for a frighteningly fascinating Halloween read, animal carcasses support living creatures all year long. With death, comes the chance for life to flourish. You can check out hundreds of types of thriving marine life at the Seattle Aquarium. Plan your visit today!

Students at Muckleshoot Tribal School name new octopus

Posted on October 7, 2024November 4, 2024 by Emma Leiser

One of the Seattle Aquarium’s newest residents weighs 20.5 pounds, sports eight arms and hails from the chilly waters of Neah Bay. She’s already helping visitors understand the importance of her species—the giant Pacific octopus—to local ecosystems.

The young octopus also has a special name—sqiqələč (skee-sku-luch)—that reflects the Aquarium’s place on traditional and contemporary Coast Salish land. sqiqələč means “baby octopus” in the Lushootseed language. The name was chosen by middle- and high-school students in a language and performing arts class at Muckleshoot Tribal School.

The Salish Sea is rich not only in biodiversity, but also in linguistic diversity. The language of the land and headwaters where the Aquarium resides is Lushootseed. As noted on the Muckleshoot Tribe’s website, “The Lushootseed language was nearly lost through the forced assimilation of the boarding school era beginning in the early 1890s. Today, Muckleshoot, as well as many other Coast Salish Tribes, are working to restore and preserve Lushootseed by developing robust language and culture programs that teach our youth and keep our Native language alive.”

In early 2024, Aquarium team members Malik Johnson and Kaitlin Brawley—who help care for giant Pacific octopuses—contacted the students’ teacher Teresa Allen about naming the octopus. The naming process reflects the Aquarium’s aim to further integrate more languages, stories, names, faces and knowledge of the Indigenous peoples we partner with throughout the region. Recent work has also included new signage in Lushootseed, the integration of Indigenous languages into Aquarium camp and youth curricula, presentations that highlight our relationship with Makah waters and other projects that amplify Indigenous languages and traditional ecological knowledge at the Aquarium.

Arrangements are being made for the Muckleshoot Tribal students to visit sqiqələč this fall. Like other giant Pacific octopuses, sqiqələč will live at the Aquarium temporarily. Aquarium divers carefully collect a certain number of octopuses with a special permit from the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife. They typically stay with us for around a year, and when they show signs that they’re mature and ready to mate, our divers return them to their original collection location so they can complete their life cycles and reproduce.

In August, the Aquarium and the Muckleshoot Tribe announced a new partnership to enrich cultural and marine science education work.

How the Johnson family makes it a day at the waterfront

Posted on September 29, 2024January 29, 2025 by Emma Leiser

The Seattle Aquarium teamed up with Rome and Falesha Johnson—parents to Caliyah Joy and Romen—for a day of family fun on the Seattle waterfront. Dive in to see their adventures!

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The Johnson family’s day at the waterfront

A joyous and tight-knit family

Follow along as we make it a day on the Seattle Waterfront. It’s time for some family fun!

1: Seattle Aquarium

Our favorite spots are Window on Washington Waters and Caring Cove, a play space where kids can learn about animal care.

2: Lunchtime: Ivar’s Fish Bar

The food here is a hit for both parents and kids every time. You can’t go wrong with a fresh basket of fish and chips.

3: The Great Wheel

This Seattle classic is known for its dazzling views of Elliott Bay. Plus, there’s stroller parking.

4: Aquarium café for gelato

The Seattle Aquarium has Nutty Squirrel Gelato now! Creamy and flavorful, it’s the best sweet treat on the waterfront. They even have vegan options. P.S. The Aquarium allows same-day reentry. Make sure to get a hand stamp before you head out!

More Seattle waterfront itinerary highlights

Pike Place Market pigs  
The Secret Garden (in Pike Place Market) 
Argosy Cruises 
Pier 62 
Magic Mouse Toys 
Pioneer Square Habitat Beach 
Ferry ride to and from Bainbridge Island 
Carousel (near the Great Wheel)