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My Birch Aquarium La Jolla gem is both small and just right. By Amy BentleyPublished: November, 2006

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La Jolla gem is both small and just right A visit to an aquarium is always a treat for children who marvel at displays of mysterious sea creatures they’ve often only read about, like sea horses, sharks and other exotic creatures. The Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla fits the bill, showcasing all these ocean animals and more. It may not be the largest aquarium in California but it’s certainly a good one, and it’s right here in our back yard. This aquarium and interactive sea museum is located at UC San Diego on a scenic bluff with an awesome view of La Jolla and the Pacific Ocean. I visited the Birch Aquarium recently with two friends and our five collective kids who range in age from 6 to 8. During our two-hour visit, all five children spent about a half-hour alone playing at the outside water table, moving around the walls in a water maze called “Go With the Flow” that teaches children about the changing ocean currents. That interactive display, along with the outside tide pool in which the children were encouraged to dip in their hands to touch sea stars, lobsters, sea cucumbers and other creatures, made the visit worthwhile for everyone. Feeling, experiencing As my 6-year-old son excitedly reached for critters in the tide pool, I described the animals and plants he was seeing and feeling. “Can you say anemone?” I asked him as he touched one. “Nope,” he replied, although he mastered the tongue-twister after several tries. Other neat creatures we saw that none of us had ever seen before included upside-down jelly fish; feeding sand dollars that cause the sand to bubble as they eat; seahorses with frilly, leafy fins that do an incredible job of camouflaging themselves against their enemies by looking like drifting pieces of seaweed; and creepy large eels that looked downright prehistoric. An awesome, mesmerizing display is the 70,000-gallon kelp forest tank. The tall kelp sways in a hypnotic motion inside a tank teeming with fish. A wave-making machine and natural sunlight entering through the tank’s open top help the kelp and animals thrive. Next to the massive tank is an informative display discussing the worldwide decline of kelp forests and coral reefs, the overfishing of species like abalone, and the need to protect underwater ecosystems before the kelp forests become “ghost forests” with no animals or fish left in them. Other kid-friendly and educational interactive exhibits include the display called “Earthquake! Life on a Restless Planet.” Here, visitors learn what causes earthquakes and more. You can create and record an earthquake and witness the seismic activity in real time. There’s also a fascinating display about the clever ways sea creatures camouflage themselves to hide from predators. You’ll see tanks with fish that hide their eyes in stripes and wild patterns. We had fun trying to locate the miniature rays hiding in the sand. The sand-colored rays were completely covered; only their eyeballs stood out. The aquarium’s 13,000-gallon shark reef tank is another highlight. Visitors can also step inside a real shark cage. Our kids loved this and had to have photos of them in the cage. Conservation and education are the Birch Aquarium’s missions. Since 1903, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography has maintained an aquarium and museum at the La Jolla site. The new Birch Aquarium opened in 1992 and is four times larger than the old one, with more than 60 tanks. The aquarium also hosts special programs for children. Amy Bentley of Temecula is a regular contributor.

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