Birch Aquarium, Marine research aquarium in La Jolla, San Diego, US.
Birch Aquarium is a public aquarium in La Jolla, San Diego, and the public outreach center for Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Its tan facade carries the incised lettering "STEPHEN BIRCH AQUARIUM MUSEUM" above a blue-framed glass curtain wall. Inside, a 70,000-gallon kelp forest tank holds tall golden-brown kelp and schooling silver fish.
The institution was founded in the early 1900s and later relocated to its current hilltop location in La Jolla. A major donation enabled the move and expansion, which also led to its current name.
The name honors the Stephen and Mary Birch Foundation, whose $6 million gift in 1985 launched the fundraising for this building. Docents staff the three living tide pools of Tide-Pool Plaza, where visitors touch starfish, hermit crabs and sea cucumbers. The aquarium is a world leader in seahorse propagation, and in March 2023 its program bred 70 weedy seadragons inside an exhibit.
The aquarium sits on a hilltop at 2300 Expedition Way, with the entrance under the glass curtain wall bearing the museum's name. Inside, a central lobby leads to each exhibit area, and the Tide-Pool Plaza overlooks La Jolla Shores and the Pacific. Docents staff the three living tide pools, where visitors may touch starfish, hermit crabs and sea cucumbers.
In March 2023, Birch Aquarium bred 70 weedy seadragons inside an exhibit, the first time this had happened there; two had been bred in 2020. The aquarium is a world leader in seahorse propagation, which reduces the need for other zoos and aquariums to collect from the wild.
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