From Bill Reid’s orca at the entrance, through the Pacific galleries and out to the Wild Coast pools, then indoors again for the warm-water galleries.
Segments
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The orca and the Pacific Canada PavilionMain entrance → Pacific Canada Pavilion
Paved plaza and indoor gallery
Stop outside before you go in: *Chief of the Undersea World*, the breaching killer whale in bronze, is by Bill Reid, the Haida artist whose work you will meet again at the Museum of Anthropology. Inside, the first big room is built around a 260,000-litre tank of fish and invertebrates from the Strait of Georgia, the sea between Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Give it ten minutes: this is the local water, and most of it is stranger than the tropics. About 15 minutes.
About this place
William Ronald Reid Jr. also known as Iljuwas, was a Haida artist whose works include jewelry, sculpture, screen-printing, and paintings. Producing over one thousand original works during his fifty-year career, Reid is regarded as one of the most significant Northwest Coast artists of the late twentieth century. The Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art celebrates his legacy through the curation of contemporary Indigenous art.
Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Leoboudv · CC BY-SA 3.0 -
Treasures of the BC Coast and Canada's ArcticPacific Canada Pavilion → Arctic gallery
Indoor galleries
A run of smaller tanks recreates the different habitats of the BC coast, from tide pools to deep rocky reefs: sea stars, anemones, urchins, rockfish and the giant Pacific octopus, which is often tucked into a corner and worth waiting for. The Arctic gallery next to it swaps in cold-water species from Canada's far north. About 30 minutes.
About this place
The giant Pacific octopus, also known as the North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the genus Enteroctopus and Enteroctopodidae family.
Read more on Wikipedia Photo: NOAA/R. N. Lea [1] · Public domain -
The Wild CoastArctic gallery → Outdoor pools
Outdoor paved paths around pools
The outdoor heart of the aquarium. Sea otters float on their backs in their own pool, and the rescue pools rotate harbour seals and sea lions brought in by the Marine Mammal Rescue program. There is also a touch pool with BC invertebrates. Time this stop to catch an otter or sea lion session. About 30 minutes.
About this place
The sea otter is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between 14 and 45 kg (30–100 lb), making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among the smallest marine mammals. Unlike most marine mammals, the sea otter's primary form of insulation is an exceptionally thick coat of fur, the densest in the animal kingdom. Although it can walk on land, the sea otter is capable of living exclusively in the ocean.
Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Marshal Hedin from San Diego · CC BY-SA 2.0 -
Tropics GalleryOutdoor pools → Tropics Gallery
Indoor gallery
Back inside, the palette changes to reef colour: tropical fish in big display tanks with blacktip reef sharks cruising among them. After the muted greens of the Pacific galleries, the contrast is the point. About 15 minutes.
About this place
The blacktip reef shark is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, which can be easily identified by the prominent black tips on its fins. Among the most abundant sharks inhabiting the tropical coral reefs of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, this species prefers shallow, inshore waters. Its exposed first dorsal fin is a common sight in the region. The blacktip reef shark is usually found over reef ledges and sandy flats, though it has also been known to enter brackish and freshwater environments. It typically attains a length of 1.6 m (5.2 ft). Like other sharks, the females are larger than the males.
Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 -
Amazon Rainforest and FrogsTropics Gallery → Amazon gallery exit
Warm, humid indoor gallery
Step into a warm, damp room of freshwater fish, snakes, caimans, birds and sloths, which are usually asleep somewhere overhead, so look up. The frog gallery alongside holds amphibians from around the world and explains why so many species are in trouble. Glasses fog on the way in. About 25 minutes.
About this place
The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle, Amazonia, or simply the Amazon, is a moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin encompasses 7 million km2 (2.7 million sq mi), of which 6 million km2 (2.3 million sq mi) are covered by the rainforest. This region includes territory belonging to nine nations and 3,344 indigenous territories.
Read more on Wikipedia Photo: CIAT · CC BY-SA 2.0 -
Canaccord Exploration GalleryAmazon gallery exit → Exit
Indoor gallery
The last gallery holds the jellies, pulsing slowly in lit tanks, along with more fish, a children's play area and the 4D theatre, which runs short films on a schedule. It is a good place to sit for ten minutes before heading back out to the park. About 20 minutes.
About this place
Jellyfish, also known as sea jellies or simply jellies, are the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, which is a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals, although a few are anchored to the seabed by stalks rather than being motile. They are made of an umbrella-shaped main body made of mesoglea, known as the bell, and a collection of trailing tentacles on the underside.
Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Dan90266 · CC BY-SA 2.0
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