The Aquarium’s Passages of the Deep exhibit allows the visitor to literally immerse themselves in the ocean realm that exists right off the Oregon coast. A series of underwater walkways leads the visitor from the dark, quiet canyons of the Orford Reef, through the sparkling and teeming waters of Halibut Flats, and finally into the vast blue expanse of the Open Sea. As you pass through these three ecosystems, you symbolically move further into the Pacific Ocean, encountering vastly different animals along the way.
Halibut Flats
The Halibut Flats exhibit represents the ocean on the continental shelf, in Oregon’s coastal waters. The seafloor is made up of sand and mud broken up by rocky outcrops. Plant life is sparse in this region, yet there is plenty of animal life where a variety of interconnected species form a vibrant underwater community. Aside from the sturgeon, lingcod, halibut and flounder that constantly patrol the shipwreck, the sandy ocean floor is a resting place for skates, a disk-shaped species of fish related to sharks and rays. You may have to look carefully, however, as the skates’ mottled coloring is the perfect camouflage for this region of dappled sunlight.
The stormy Oregon coast is often called the “Graveyard of the Pacific” and here is proof. In Halibut Flats, ocean life finds shelter among the sunken skeleton of a long-forgotten ship. There’s more sunlight in Halibut Flats than there was in the narrow canyons of Orford Reef, and the animals are more active.
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