Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Sea Center

Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Sea Center is a regional aquarium on historic Stearns Wharf dedicated to the marine life and habitats of the Santa Barbara Channel. As a sister campus of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, it takes a strongly local approach rather than presenting a broad collection of species from around the world. Exhibits explore the channel's rocky reefs, kelp forests, and other coastal environments while connecting visitors with the animals that inhabit them.

The experience includes Moon Jellies, a California moray eel, and the two-spot octopus, along with exhibits about marine mammals and a life-sized gray whale mother and calf. The Wet Deck provides hands-on opportunities to investigate the ocean using tools commonly used for marine study, while the Sea Center also participates in white abalone restoration and other marine science and conservation efforts. Its interactive format and emphasis on a specific coastal ecosystem make it especially well suited to travelers interested in California marine life and the ecology of the Santa Barbara Channel.