Guest Author - Jilly Florio

This small aquarium is quite charming and unpretentious. Located directly under the fun "carnival" pier in Santa Monica, the space has a half dozen large, themed tanks and several large touch tanks full of squishy invertebrates.

The tanks are fantastic - each one denotes a specific local biome in the Santa Monica Bay and coastal tidelands area. I especially liked the Under The Pier tank. Since the whole aquarium is located under the pier, the conceit is that you are actually looking out a large window - the scene is complete with huge "pier pilings", tangled strands of kelp, monstrous starfish creeping up the barnacle-encrusted pilings, and large-eyed, colorful local fish swimming swimming in this psuedo-forest scene. It's a nice habitat for the creatures and a beautiful display.

Other habitat tanks include depictions of the Rocky Reef, Out in the Bay, Nursery Tank and Lobster/Crab Habitat. The tanks are large, clean and well cared for. You can walk around these tanks to see all the angles. I like the Moray Eel tank by the front entrance, but then, moray eels are just too cool. There is a very nice not-for-touching open shark and ray tank. The large touch tanks are some of the nicest I've seen, with huge starfish, pretty anenomes, weird sea cucumbers and other invertebrates to touch.

There is a large art area for the kiddies, complete with low tables and lots of chairs, crayons and fishy pictures to color in. The staff seems to have a lot of kid activites always on tap, from using the art area to making presentations in the lab room. Granted, I did not see any presentations during my visit, but the aquarium literature and bulletin boards seemed chock-full of potential action.

Yes, this is a nice place to take the kiddies, since the aquarium is small enough to see in an hour and offers plenty of hand-on stuff (ie - touch tanks, microscopes in the lab, a comfortable story-telling/puppet theater area and tons of art supplies/books/puzzles and games). Apparently you can schedule marine-themed birthday parties there, too.

The bathrooms are clean and the donation is small (2-5 bucks; your call). I like the ecosystem and anti-pollution emphasis - these are important concepts for children and adults to be exposed to.

The docents seemed nice enough but not very knowledgable. They were mostly teens who were talking among themselves or keeping an eye on the place - taking donations, making sure children did not hurt themselves around the touch tanks, etc. When I asked a few fish questions I realized the level of docent knowledge was somewhat shallow, and probably widely varies from docent to docent. This does not detract from the good aspects of this small, inexpensive attraction. Each tank has large colorful, named fish photos to help with your identification, and there are also plenty of interpretive signs and handouts.

Overall, I would visit this aquarium if you are in the area and want to see some nice tanks and learn about local ocean fauna. If you are visiting the rides, arcades and general madness on the pier above, and need a clean bathroom (or a quiet break), I'd suggest paying your donation at the aquarium and looking around at the displays - the money is going to a good cause.

But most of all I would recommend the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium to families seeking a fun, interactive, low-key learning experience. It is nice and quiet in the aquarium, you can sit down and survey the entire room (and your kid) from the chairs, and feel good that you are exposing your child to good Earth stewardship practices.

Santa Monica Pier Aquarium - (310)393-6149; call for hours, parking info and directions. You can also call to become a member of Heal the Bay or to volunteer/intern at this aquarium.

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