What to Know
- Long Beach
- Shark Lagoon
- With paid admission
Go now and tell your bud, that pal who is as obsessed with Discovery's "Shark Week" as you are, that you know a place where you can see sharks on any day of the week, during the daytime or evening, and that friend'll likely claim that you're all wet.
Or at least that you're fibbing, but this is no (Great White) lie: You really can spy sleek and powerful predators, up-close, at the Aquarium of the Pacific's Shark Lagoon.
You won't be in the water, nope, though there is a Touch Tank that kids especially love. And, yeah, let's be real: Grown-ups also want to know what it feels like when a small shark grazes just beneath your fingertips.
But that was a bit of a lie before, of the Great-White-iest kind: There's no GWS-style action at the Long Beach institution, but you will see amazing zebra sharks, sand sharks, and whitetip reef sharks, too.
There are over 150 sharks at the aquarium, of both the "touch-this-one" and "definitely-avoid-touching-that-one" varieties. (There's no opportunity to come into contact with the latter camp, so feel free to exhale now.)
Also? "Various interactive displays will highlight sharks' senses, sizes, teeth, and reproduction, as well as their importance in the ocean's food chain," is the fascinating word from the aquarium.
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Call it a way to complement and enhance to knowledge you glean from watching "Shark Week," and call touching an actual shark as close as you can get to reaching through your television screen.
The touch sharks, by the way, that call Shark Lagoon home?
They're epaulette and bamboo sharks, further adding to the wide array of sharkdom you'll admire during your visit.
Further adding to the anticipation? Discounted Late Nights are happening this summer, on select evenings, and Shark Lagoon will be open to visitors.
So tell your shark-obsessed bud to join you for some fingertip-to-shark-back experiential fun, and sharky education, too, all while saving some bucks.
Our grin is especially toothy over all of this shark-tastic splendor, and the fact that we can see a shark, or rather several sharks, on any day of the week, at the Aquarium of the Pacific.
