Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea
9811 Seaport Place V8L 4X3 Sidney, BC, Canada

Fishmas Under the Sea by Educator Ayla Christmas Anemone (Urticina crassicornis)! This festive anemone is named after it’s most common colouration, red and green! It’s also known as the painted anemone, because the vertical red stripes on the green stalk resemble paint streaks. The Christmas anemone is quite large, with a ring of tentacles up to 30 cm in diameter. It eats crabs, clams, chitons, fish and even other anemones.... Hohoho did you know? The candy stripe shrimp (Lebbeus grandimanus) sometimes lives with the Christmas anemone and is immune to its sting! (This strange photo shows you the colouration but the tentacles are tucked in.) #MerryFishmas #christmas2020 #salishsea #westcoastchristmas #underthesea #pnw #invertebratesrule

GUESS THE WEIGHT! Henry is on his way (sniffle sniffle). And this means he's hit the scale! Your turn to weigh in and guess Henry's release weight. ... Henry arrived in June of this year and weighed in at 2.2 kg (5 lbs) . What is your best guess! #octopuslove #cephalopod #weighin #guesstheweight #bonniehenry #salishsea #pnw #divebc

No elf, no shelf but looks like we have a Salish Sea Octo-claus around here getting up to no good when we're not looking. Follow along with their silly sea-nanigans. Octo-claus got in a last goodbye to Henry this morning. ... #elfonashelf #findtheoctopus #happyholidays #christmas2020 #salishsea

#Intheshop Our staff not only work here, they shop here! Members of our team highlight what's on their wish list or shopping list this year! Deanna, Director, Volunteers & Business Development, leans heavily towards books when it comes to gift giving. She can't stress enough how much she enjoys the "Secret Beaches" series. (Shown here with her other current favourites.)... (Revenue from all shop purchases support our Centre directly.)

Friday and Saturday mornings at the Centre feature our "Ask an Educator" series. November is all about salmon! Do salmon swim alone or with other salmon? Educator Ayla answers this question!... Salmon travel in schools, meaning they group together and all swim in an organized manner in the same direction. This is done to protect them from predators while in the ocean. The flashy sides of all the salmon and the organized movement makes them look like one large, intimidating animal instead of multiple small ones, which confuses the predator! In order to stay in unison, the salmon use their eyesight, smell, pheromones and importantly, their lateral line. The lateral line is the distinct horizontal sensory line that runs from the base of the head to the end of their body. It detects vibrations and pressure changes in the surrounding water! Pictured: Juvenile Chinook salmon, Jeff Reindl

#Whatisitwednesday Can you identify the species in this picture portion?

#WordWednesday TETE is SENOEN for tiger rockfish. SENOEN is the language of the Saanich people.

#teammembertuesday Our team has grown by two Morgan R (L.) and Morgan W. (R) Morgan R. (Jr. Aquarist) I recently graduated from UVIC where I studied Environmental Studies and Geography for the past 5 years. My two major interests are sports and the outdoors! I am an animal lover and an ocean lover which is why I’m so excited to be working on the Aquarist Team at the Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea. Morgan W. (Outreach Educator) "I recently graduated from the Earth and Ocean... Sciences program at UVic, I've been an active volunteer for the Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea since fall of 2016 and I'm interested in science education including local marine life and dinosaurs." (Who is in the middle you wonder? It’s the physical distancing wolf eel, custom made by a very talented individual.)

When the educator becomes the student. Educator Aneka enjoyed some teachings from a 4 year old visitor who had recently experienced a salmon dissection at Goldstream Provincial Park. The young visitor regaled Aneka with the following information. 1) they saw the salmon’s brain! 2) the salmon heart is triangle shaped and 3) female salmon have very damaged tails from digging their redds (gravel nests)... Have you visited a salmon spawning event yet this year? (The Goldstream Nature House)