Everything You Need to Know about the Oregon Coast Aquarium

If you’re a local or have been traveling to Oregon for quite some time, then you’re probably familiar with the Oregon Coast Aquarium. But whether you’re a newcomer or local, you’re in for a treat! This is one of the most interesting tourist attractions where families can explore and learn about marine life.

The Oregon Coast Aquarium is one of Newport’s most popular attractions thanks to its myriad of fantastic exhibits, incredible marine animals, and their amazing efforts to rescue and rehabilitate marine life. Plus, the attraction is known to put up terrific festive activities and events for Halloween, Christmas, and many more. We have also seen this space used for personal celebrations like birthdays, weddings, and meetings.

What else is there to learn about the Oregon Coast Aquarium? Read on to learn what to expect!

What to Do in Oregon Coast Aquarium

Did you know that the Oregon Coast Aquarium is ranked as one of the top ten aquariums in the United States? Here are some of the amazing attraction’s highlights to look forward to:

Animal Encounters

The Oregon Coast Aquarium has two close animal encounters where you can observe them closely and even touch the animals.

First is the special Octopus Encounters, where you can interact with the Giant Pacific Octopus closely. You can even interact with the octopus and shake hands. There is also a behind-the-scenes tour to learn more about the octopus.

The second is the Sea Jelly Encounters, which consists of moon jellies or the Aurelia aurita. Visitors can even touch the top of the jelly or their bell. Don’t worry, they are safe to touch and do not sting. You get to learn more about these jellyfish through audio and video sessions.

Animal Exhibits

The Oregon Coast Aquarium features indoor exhibits consisting of three galleries that show marine life and natural habitats you can find on the rocky and sandy shores of Oregon’s coastal area. Children can also visit the interactive area and exhibits featuring underwater fantasies and science fiction themes.

Other than the exhibits and interactive area, there is also a café, coffee bar, and gift shop.

There are also outdoor exhibits that feature replicas of caves, pools, rocky shores, and rugged cliffs. The exhibits are homes to the aquarium’s marine animals like otters, octopuses, seals, sea lions, and more. There is even a sanctuary called the Seabird Aviary, which is made for wild marine birds like tufted puffins, among other ocean birds.

Sandy Shores

The Sandy Shores is an exhibit featuring Oregon Coast’s narrow ecosystem, where land meets water. It’s a narrow stretch with various marine creatures between rocks and buried in the sand. There are 13 separate exhibits with interactive video sessions.

Rocky Shores

The Rocky Shores replicate Oregon’s rocky shores, housing invertebrates like limpets, wolf eel, crabs, rockfish, sea stars, and the like. There are 15 exhibits here.

You’ll want to head to the Tide Pool, where you can touch the anemones, sea stars, and other animals in the exhibit!

Coastal Waters

This exhibit is home to sea nettles, leather stars, red sea urchins, moon jellies, and more. It has its own special California kelp forest, too. The Coastal Waters is one of Oregon Coast Aquarium’s largest displays, holding about 35,000 gallons of water. From here, you can learn about the Coho and Chinook salmon’s life cycles.

Passages of the Deep

This is a 1.32 million gallon capacity tunnel exhibit with three ocean habitats connected by about 200-foot-long stretches of water. It will give you the illusion that you’re walking under the sea, thanks to the 360-degree view and thousands of creatures living in it. You’ll also get to check out the changing landscapes, which also naturally occur in the sea!

Oxford Reef

This section features the anemones, wolf eels, and rockfish living with schooling surfperch in kelp. There’s an artificial mechanism creating an environment so you’ll feel like you are walking under a kelp forest.

Halibut Flat

The Halibut Flat features a submerged wrecked ship among the kelp, where you can find sturgeon, halibut, flounder, lingcod, and other disc-shaped fish that have made the area their resting and nesting ground.

Open Sea

The Open Sea represents the largest environment on the planet with a capacity of about 875,000 gallons. You can find five different shark species, salmon, mackerel, bat rays, and anchovies.

You’ll love the pools of light reaching inside the exhibit, creating the illusion of endless water. It’s why the Open Sea is one of the most popular exhibits. It even houses the Broadnose Sevengill shark, Oregon Coast Aquarium’s largest specimen.

Seapunk

The Seapunk exhibit is one of the newer additions, modeled after an underwater fantasy fiction novel involving crippled submarines. It merges modern-futuristic technology with historical Victorian.

Sea Otter Exhibit

This is an outdoor exhibit home to rescued sea otters that were abandoned at a young age. You’ll be able to witness them playing, frolicking in the pools, or feeding.

Seal and Sea Lion Exhibit

You can see the California Sea Lions and Harbour seals from the underwater windows and those above. There are around 90,000 gallons of water with a depth of 15 feet for the seals and sea lions to dive and play around.

Seabird Aviary

This is another outdoor exhibit with five seabird species, which are the tufted puffins, common murres, pigeon guillemots, horned puffins, and rhinoceros auklets. There are one shorebird species as well, the black oystercatcher.

There are also more exhibits to look into, like the Turkey Vultura Aviary and the Giant Pacific Octopus Cave.

Wrapping It Up

Did you get to learn more about the Oregon Coast Aquarium? If you enjoyed this article, then check out what more we have to offer! We share informative posts on Newport, Oregon, as well as offer fishing charter services to catch tons of fish species.

Let’s Get Started