Santa Monica Pier Aquarium Announces Free February Sundays in Collaboration with CIRQUE DU SOLEIL'S OVO

Performers from OVO from Cirque du Soleil, the new touring show about the world of insects currently performing under its blue and yellow Grand Chapiteau (Big Top) at the Santa Monica Pier, visited Heal the Bay's Santa Monica Pier Aquarium February 1st to kick off a month of free Sundays at the Aquarium.
 
OVO is the internationally known circus' ode to the insect and three of those characters - the red spider, the cricket and the flea – paid a visit to observe the live animals in the Aquarium's tide pool touch tanks, posing for photos both inside the marine science center and with the marine-themed mural outside as a backdrop.  
 
As partners in promoting community education, the Aquarium and Cirque du Soleil invite the public to visit the Aquarium for free any Sunday in February. In addition, Cirque du Soleil, as a part of its commitment to community involvement, will sponsor five field trip education programs, including bus transportation, to the Aquarium during the run of the show. For many, the field trip to the Aquarium marks the students' first experience with the beach environment and their first opportunity to observe marine life up close.
 
While OVO is described as "immersion into the teeming world of insects," Aquarium visitors will be immersed in the underwater world, gaining knowledge about the creatures of the Santa Monica Bay through hands-on, interactive exhibits of more than 100 species native to the Bay. The free Sundays will in particular celebrate crustaceans – the ocean's counterpart to insects on land – and as always, strive to inspire environmental stewardship for the benefit of all marine life.
 
In addition to the variety of crustaceans on exhibit, touch tanks at the Aquarium offer an opportunity to get up close and personal with sea stars, anemones, sea cucumbers and urchins. Moray eels, octopus, sharks, rays and a diverse number of fish species – all from the Santa Monica Bay – are displayed in habitat-specific exhibits.  Moon jellies – some as large as dinner plates – mesmerize as well as educate. The Aquarium has its own nursery to raise these majestic oceanic drifters.
 
The Aquarium is located beach level, beneath the Santa Monica Pier, at 1600 Ocean Front Walk. More information is available at www.healthebay.org/smpa.