Something Fishy Going On at OCC

Though Orange County is a coastal area, many residents have no idea what lurks beneath the waves.

“Believe it or not, people know more about the back side of the moon than they do what’s living off the coast here,” said Dennis Kelly, Orange Coast College marine science instructor.

Kelly and other faculty and students hope to change that today when they open the campus aquarium to the public.

The tour will give visitors a glimpse of what swims, grows, crawls and wiggles along the coast and in the ocean.

Local marine life is the emphasis of the largest community college marine science program in the state.

Visitors will have a chance to view a 4-foot-long squid found in Newport Beach, cuttlefish, an octopus, shark, plankton and other denizens of the deep that inhabit an icy 1,000-gallon tank, the county’s largest public aquarium.

The facility also boasts a 200-gallon warm-water coral habitat and a 400-gallon tropical fish tank.

The marine science lab is a popular educational attraction year-round. More than 10,000 elementary and high school students visit it annually, officials said.

College students who double as part-time instructors will describe in detail each exhibit as visitors tour the lab. Visitors also will have a chance to touch, feed and test specimens.

The free open house will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. today on campus, 2701 Fairview Drive. Parking is in the lot on Merrimac Way between Harbor Boulevard and Fairview Road.

Information: (714) 432-5564.