Seymour Marine Discovery Center

Come explore your ocean at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center in Santa Cruz!

Through our breathtaking seaside learning center, we bring the adventures and explorations of ocean science to life. Explore our exhibit halls, aquarium, touch pools, Ocean Discovery Shop, and unsurpassed vistas of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Hold a sea star! Marvel at the world’s largest whale skeleton. Think like a scientist!

Powered by Long Marine Laboratory, a world-renowned university research facility located adjacent to our 20,000-square-foot visitor center, the Seymour Center offers hands-on immersion into the world of ocean exploration and discovery. Aquarium and exhibits feature the everyday tools of ocean exploration and focus on research conducted by scientists on site and around the world.

Unlike a traditional aquarium, the Seymour Center takes you behind the scenes to learn more about scientific research in our oceans. Learn more about elephant seal behavior, understand the role of sea otters in their ecosystem, observe the differences in plant and animal life in different tidepools, or learn more about the hearing of sea lions and harbor seals.

Your visit will answer many questions and bring you closer to the creatures in the Monterey Bay. At our invertebrate pool you can touch sea stars, sea urchins, hermit crabs, sea anemones, and more. Our shark pool provides a close-up view of these fascinating and often misunderstood creatures, and provides you with the opportunity to touch a swell shark! Other tanks house rockfish, eels, decorator crabs, and jellies.

Daily tours, hands-on programs, and spectacular views available every day! We look forward to meeting you during your next visit!

The Seymour Marine Discovery Center is a community-supported marine science education center of the University of California, Santa Cruz.