Seattle Aquarium

Not surpringly for  a city bordered by the sea and two enormous freshwater lakes, Seattle has a terrifically well-populated aquatic display at the Seattle Aquarium. Everything from lionfish to octopi can be glimpsed up close at this sprawling, multi-level attraction located right on Puget Sound at Pier 59.

Perhaps not surprisingly, many of the Seattle Aquarium's residents are locals. The 120,000-gallon Window on Washington Waters saltwater aquarium is the first thing you see as you enter, and it's a busy vista indeed. Rockfish, greenlings, wolf eels, sea anemones, surf perches and even the occasional diver occupy this Puget Sound slice-of-life, and it's all too easy to stare into that blue-green world for minutes on end.

Don't get stuck there, because many more amazing sights await you. An nonstop parade of jellyfish drift up and over your head in a ring-shaped tank illuminated by colored lights. Tropical fish of every conceivable color mix and mingle in the Pacific Coral Reef tanks. Another section plays home to several varieties of oceanic oddballs, such as potbelly seahorses an and cowfish. And a family of sea otters swim, play, eat and sun themselves in the aquarium's indoor-outdoor pools.

For pure, dumbstruck amazement, the Underwater Dome is tough to beat. It's as good as its word, with a glass-roofed viewing area that sits under some 400,000 gallons of saltwater packed with salmon, ling cod, sturgeon, rockfish and sharks, all busily darting to and fro.

- by Geoff Carter, Seattle Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)