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What’s New at the Aquarium This Spring

This season at the Aquarium, see a new show in the Ocean Theater, visit your favorite animals, and take part in our cultural festivals and events celebrating our ocean planet.

Side view of a small, reddish-purple bigeye octopus inside aquarium exhibit resting on a rock surface

Credit: Madeline Walden

February 26, 2019

Two shows are now playing daily in the Ocean Theater, Sammy & Ray 3D and Hurricane 3D. Sammy & Ray is an animated film following the story of two young sea turtles as they cruise the ocean on their raft. Hurricane explores hurricanes in the Atlantic, how they develop from winds to monsoons to depressions as they travel across the ocean, and their impacts on people and the environment. Check Show Times insert in the visitor guide or the Aquarium Visitor App.

Several new animals are on view in the Deepwater exhibit in the Northern Pacific Gallery. This exhibit is now home to four bigeye octopuses, three spiny king crabs, spot prawns, and a type of sea slug sometimes referred to as a California sidegill sea slug.

Yutaka, the Aquarium’s juvenile giant sea bass, is acclimated to a new home in the Amber Forest exhibit in the Southern California/Baja Gallery. Yutaka was the first giant sea bass ever successfully hatched and raised at a public aquarium. This fish was first on public view in the Aquarium’s Redondo Canyon exhibit in the Southern California/Baja Gallery, just down the hall from its parents’ home in the Honda Blue Cavern exhibit. As Yutaka grew, this young fish was moved first to the Breakwater exhibit and finally to Amber Forest. Today Yutaka is 18.5 inches long and weighs just over 4 pounds.

March is Teacher Appreciation Month, when the Aquarium offers $7 admission to all teachers for pre-Kindergarten through college levels and school support staff through March 31, 2019. Visit the Aquarium’s Teacher Appreciation Month page for full details.

Events at the Aquarium in March include Divers Day on March 9, the International Children’s Festival on March 16 and 17, Noche de Estrellas on March 22, and the Urban Ocean Festival March 30 and 31. In April the Aquarium will host its annual Earth Day Celebration on April 27 and 28, and on May 4 and 5 visitors can experience the annual Pacific Islander Festival. Visit the Aquarium’s events section for a full calendar of educational, entertainment, and cultural events.