June 29, 2011 | Tips from Travellers >
Queen Charlotte City, Attractions
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Imagine going on a diving adventure in the Southern waters of Haida Gwaii...wondering what might be lurking on the ocean floor. Well now you can stop wondering and come see some for yourself!
The Queen Charlotte Visitor Centre has just recently installed and filled our touch tank aquarium! With an inner aquarium for viewing only and a touch area with starfish surrounding, it's a great addition to our centre! It's filled with critters brought to us from waters near the Haida heritage site Skedans and the Haida Heritage Centre! We've got vermillion stars, bat stars, hermit crabs, a giant sea cucumber, sailfin sculpins, a grunt sculpin, opalescent nudibranchs, a yellow rimmed nudibranch, and more! The bully of the tank, Albert the Kelp Crab, is quite a funny fellow, always on guard! The opalescent nudibranchs have even layed some eggs, we'll see how the babies make out!
Our job description now involves cleaning the protein skimmer, hunting for mussels on the beach to feed the critters, and more...but we're not complaining! I love the tank, and so do all of the children and parents that come through as well. The tank is educational; not everyone has seen sea cucumber, and not everyone has seen a starfish eating a mussel. It's a new adventure for myself, having never seen a majority of the critters before in my lifetime on Haida Gwaii.
For anyone who has never gone diving before, it's a excellent way to find out what really is out in the ocean!