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The Oregon coast is famous for its rocky shores. Our uniquely beautiful coastline is visited by millions of people each year and provides habitats to countless species of animals and plants. Twice a day at high tide, surging waves send cold seawater crashing onto the rocky cliffs and beaches to collect in pools in the rocks.
At low tide, the rocks might steam dry in the sun but the pools remain, havens for a variety of organisms. While some animals keep cool and wet in the tide pools, other trap moisture in watertight shells or crawl into the damp shade under rocks or beneath the broken leaves of bull kelp.
See below for a detailed look at the different parts of the ecosystem you can find in our gallery, and keep an eye out for their counterparts along the coast!
Want a look ahead or a second glance at the videos playing in the galleries? Check out all of our indoor galleries videos here!
The main attraction of our Rocky Coast gallery is its touch pool, where visitors enjoy volunteer-led, hands-on encounters with sea stars, urchins, anemones, and other intertidal species. The touch pool was completely overhauled during our 2024 renovation, with accessibility at the forefront of its improvements. The pool’s wide outer ledge was reduced to a thin lip, so visitors of varying abilities can reach in with ease. Rockwork peeks through the water’s surface before sloping down, and windows inset along the sides let guests see, and feel, tidepool animals at different depths. Most notably, the pool is now doubled in size, allowing more visitors to get in touch with the Oregon coast.
The main attraction of our Rocky Coast gallery is its touch pool, where visitors enjoy volunteer-led, hands-on encounters with sea stars, urchins, anemones, and other intertidal species.
The touch pool was completely overhauled during our 2024 renovation, with accessibility at the forefront of its improvements. The pool’s wide outer ledge was reduced to a thin lip, so visitors of varying abilities can reach in with ease. Rockwork peeks through the water’s surface before sloping down, and windows inset along the sides let guests see, and feel, tidepool animals at different depths.
Most notably, the pool is now doubled in size, allowing more visitors to get in touch with the Oregon coast.
A completely new addition to the Rocky Coast gallery!
Check out our Giant Pacific Octopus’s dedicated indoor tank. Look closely to see ours hiding, or playing with enrichment items we use to keep it engaged; balls, jars with lids to unscrew, and food-filled puzzle boxes.
The once abundant sunflower sea star has now become a critically endangered species, their numbers decimated by an outbreak of Sea Star Wasting Syndrome (SSWS) that hit the Pacific Coast between 2013 and 2017. While we have seen hopeful signs of returning populations in the wild, at the Aquarium you can see a few of the critically endangered species.
Did you know that most of the species known as seaweeds are actually just large marine algae? Ever want a close up view of snails, sea urchins, abalone, mussels, schooling fish, and more? From close-ups to large tanks, see some of the large and small faces that are always underwater on the rocky coast.
As part of the Aquarium’s plan for indoor gallery improvements, Rocky Coast was the second of our indoor galleries to open post-renovations. Renovations included udpated tanks, new signage, an expanded touchpool, a new octopus tank and general updates needed after over thirty years educating guests on our rocky shores and what lives there.
