The Oregon Coast Aquarium’s Sandy Coast gallery is now open
to the public, featuring new tanks, more animals, and major updates.
Offshore Sands
A completely new addition to the Sandy Coast gallery! Animals that can’t survive the crashing waves close to shore live farther out, inhabiting still waters where the seafloor is stable. This part of the Sandy Coast sustains sea life like rockfish, anemones, and sea pens.
Sandy Seafloor
Flatfish evolved to lie flat on the seafloor, both eyes looking up to watch for predators…and prey. They can change color and patterns to match their surroundings, and bury themselves in the sand so they don’t get swept away by currents.
Piers and Pilings
Built by humans over sandy seafloors, piers mimic rocky habitat, attracting limpets, barnacles, perch, sea stars, mussels, and more. Animals like sea stars and crabs roam piers, moving with the tide to hunt for food. This habitat is filled with 4,730 gallons of seawater, sourced from nearby Yaquina Bay.
Above the Seafloor
In nature, herring, anchovies, and sardines swim in glimmering schools, swooping and darting to avoid predators, preserve energy, and find food. This tank gives guests a chance to see schooling behavior in action.
Bays and Estuaries
This new construction mimics an eelgrass bed, where tubesnouts, pipefish, prawns, and other species thrive among brackish waters and shifting sands. Eelgrass beds act as nursery habitats, providing food and shelter to growing fish.
Sandy Beaches
Crashing waves create a rough-and-tumble environment for animals living along Oregon’s Sandy Beaches. This updated habitat features an intermittent swell, giving guests the chance to see how anemones, prawns, clingfish, and other hardy species have adapted to thrive in turbulent waters.
