California Science Center ECOSYSTEMS Kelp Forest

California Science Center
 700 Exposition Park Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90037
californiasciencecenter.org

California Science Center's Kelp Forest isn't the biggest aquarium exhibit in Los Angeles County. It does, however, tell a unique story in context of its larger, themed ECOSYSTEMS exhibition. When you visit the Science Center you likely won't limit your time to seeing the aquarium, but make sure you don't miss it!

Many realize that the California Science Center, which dates to the first State Exposition Building in 1912, was transformed in 1998 into a new kind of public institution for science learning, the California Science Center.

It received incredible publicity when the Space Shuttle Endeavour arrived in L.A. and became part of the Center's permanent exhibit space in 2012. If you've not been to the free admission museum in Exposition Park, you're overdue for a visit. Especially if you're a fan of animals and aquariums.

In 2010 the Center opened a two-story ECOSYSTEMS exhibit which features the 2nd Floor Kelp Forest, one of several ecosystems such as Extreme Zone: Desert, Island Zone and Rocky Shore.

ECOSYSTEMS was unveiled as the centerpiece of the second phase of three the museum had slated. A diversity of corals and brightly colored fish in an aquarium include reef fish that are found only in the waters around Hawaii, along with live coral that can be found in Hawaiian waters as well as in other areas of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Living together in their 188,000 gallon home, The Kelp Forest species each play an important role in their environment:

• Garibaldi, known as the Grazers, specialize in food that does not move.
  Leopard Sharks and Round Stingrays are called the Slurpers because they use their mouths and fins to dig for food.
  Giant Kelpfish are the Kelp lovers feeding on different types of food, but never straying far from the kelp.
  California Sheephead and Bat Rays are Crushers who prey on hard- shelled species.
  California Moray eel and Treefish are Night Prowlers hunting when the sun goes down.
  Giant Sea Bass, California Halibut and California Scorpionfish are Ambushers, waiting for food to come to them.

While California's premier aquariums feature much larger aquatic exhibits (Monterey Bay Aquarium Open Sea contains one million gallons and its Kelp Forest has 335,000 gallons)  the California Science Center with its 188,000 gallon Kelp Forest is well worth a look in the context of the city setting and variety of exhibits.