The Kelp Forest tank
2010
A wall of green water rises two storeys in front of you, and inside it strands of giant kelp sway from the floor to the surface while thousands of silver fish move through them in a single shimmering cloud. The tank holds one hundred and eighty eight thousand gallons of seawater and recreates the kelp forests that grow just off the coast of Southern California, a few miles from where you are standing. Leopard sharks, garibaldi, sheephead, rays and moray eels live among the kelp, and at set times divers go in to feed them and answer questions through a microphone.
Look first at the kelp itself. Giant kelp is the fastest growing plant-like organism in the world, capable of adding more than half a metre in a day, and the tank has to be pruned regularly by the divers. The fronds are held up by small gas-filled floats at the base of each blade. Then watch the fish. The big schools move as one because each fish is reacting to its neighbours, and the sharks cruise slowly through them without causing panic because they are well fed. On the lower level an acrylic tunnel runs under the tank, so you can stand with fish passing over your head and see the underside of the canopy, where the light filters down in green columns.
The tank is the centrepiece of Ecosystems, the wing that opened in 2010 and turned the Science Center from an exhibit hall into a living museum. It is a working ecosystem: the water is filtered, chilled and moved in a slow current to keep the kelp healthy, and the animals are all species you might see snorkelling at Catalina Island. Come early, before the school groups arrive, and it is one of the calmest places in Los Angeles.
Did You Know? Giant kelp can grow more than half a metre in a single day, so the divers have to trim the tank like gardeners.
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