Blackpool Sea Life

Blackpool Sea Life invited us to go along to view their visitor attraction. It’s amazing! I loved it! I could have stayed there all day!

Grand Dad Al and I have tropical fish, cichlids and guppies mainly, so going to an over sized aquarium was always going to be popular.

Walking through was easy with my two crutches, with plenty of places for me to stop and have a rest. With a lift to the first floor I would say it is very disable and buggy friendly. There was even a buggy park to make it easier for parents.

Rock Pools

We started off in the rock pool area, where kids can touch star fish, sea anemone, shells and more creatures from the deep. The member of staff on duty, got down to the little toddlers levels and explained to them in a way they understood about what they could see in the different pools. I thought this was really great as I remember when our children were little and going somewhere and the staff just ignored them and spoke to us adults, that has always stuck in my mind.

Graceful Rays

There is a whole tank rays that glide through the water. Their long thin tails following on behind. I was really amazed by how graciously they looked. They made it look effortless, but they could swim really fast.

Looking for Nemo and Dory

We found lots of Nemo and Dory’s. Although I looked closely, I couldn’t see once with a small fin so I’m presuming Nemo himself must have been in school.

Mystical Sea Horses

These are my favourite sea life creatures. I’ll admit a little secret, I actually thought they were myths like unicorns until about 15 years ago when one was discover in the River Thames – I know sad, but it’s very true.

I love the way they like to swim in pairs with their tails joined. They just look so magical floating around. I was disturbed by some of the fact about them though.

• Roughly another million seahorses are caught each year for the curio trade. They are hung out alive in the sun to dry and then made into ornaments and tourist souvenirs. So please do not buy them.
• Every year over 150 million seahorses are thought to be taken from the wild for use in the Traditional Chinese Medicine Trade.
• There is no scientific evidence to back up claims from The Traditional Medicine Trade that say seahorses have the power to cure all kind of ailments from asthma to insomnia to impotence.

Ocean Tunnel Grandeur

The spectacular ocean walk-through tunnel gives you the amazing opportunity to experience life under the sea – without getting wet. Sea Life Blackpool are extremely proud of their array of sharks – having bred and raised them for 25 years! I sat down under the tunnel and took some time to absorb the relaxing atmosphere in the tunnel. Seeing sharks swim above your head is amazing!

You can actually go into the tank at special times – sadly I forgot my swimming costume and my nerve!

Some of the sea life you can see include:

Black Tip Sharks, White Tip Sharks, Stingrays, Bowmouth Guitar Sharks, Shovel Nose Sharks, Nurse Sharks, Grouper, Vampire Fish and many more fish.

Sea Stars Spectacular

I especially loved the Sea Stars area. It’s a brand new area of Sea Life for this year. I never knew starfish came in so many colours and sizes. The area is a dimmed light area especially for the starfish. Sadly due to the dimmed lights my camera couldn’t pick up the array of colours but I hope you get the idea.

The one in the corner of this photo (below) was actually a bright purple, but you can see it has many legs.

Did you know

• There are over 2,000 species
  More than 2,000 species of sea star are documented worldwide, living in a wide variety of water conditions and temperatures, from tropical coral reefs, rocky shores, tidal pools, mud and sand to kelp forests, seagrass meadows and the cold, deep-ocean bed down to at least 20,000 ft (6,000 m). They are purely marine creatures, with no freshwater sea stars.
•  They can regenerate
  Sea stars can regrow a lost limb, although it can take up to a year to grow back completely.
•  Sea stars can switch gender at will
  Many starfish can start out as one gender before switching to the other, and even switching back in some cases!
• Sea stars have no brain…and no blood
  Instead of blood, a sea star pumps filtered sea water around its nervous system to carry nutrients to its body.
• They have their eyes at the tips of their legs
  Despite not having a brain and no apparent face, sea stars do have eyes, which are located at the tips of their legs and used to navigate themselves around.
•  They have been around a long time
  Fossils of starfish have been found that are over 450 million years old.
•  They can regenerate
  Sea stars can regrow a lost limb, although it can take up to a year to grow back completely.
• They are cannibalistic
  With their tough, leathery skin, sea stars are a daunting proposition for many would-be predators. However, they are well equipped to eat a smaller sea star and cannibalism is common with some species. Many wear striking colours to camouflage them or scare off potential attackers.
• They don’t always have five legs
  Sea stars always have at least five legs, but some species can have as many as 10, 20 or even 40.
• They eat by turning their stomachs inside out
  When a sea star captures its prey, suction cups on the legs hold it in place while its stomach extends out of its mouth to digest the meal.

Here’s a collection of other photographs we took during our visit.

To finish the trip off you can even have a game of under sea golf in the children’s play area and then purchase a memento of your visit from the gift shop.

Tickets for Blackpool Sea Life can be purchased from their website.

Nanna Jane

Blackpool Sea Life invited us for the day with free entry. This in no way influenced our opinion.