HOLIDAY CREATURES GRACE "ENCHANTED SEAS" AT OREGON COAST AQUARIUM

Enchanted Seas announces holiday-themed marine creatures for winter travelers, including a laced moray eel, fairy basslets, upside-down jellyfish and cleaner shrimp. There's even a clownfish on display that helps attracts dinner for other animals.

NEWPORT, Ore USA -- Some new and timely additions have arrived at the Oregon Coast Aquarium's Enchanted Seas exhibit just in time for the holidays- where visitors experience the magic of taking a trip into the mystical world of seahorses, sea dragons and other amazing sea creatures worth protecting.

Recently opened in the Aquarium's changing exhibit area, Enchanted Seas announces holiday-themed marine creatures for winter travelers, including a laced moray eel, fairy basslets, upside-down jellyfish and cleaner shrimp. There's even a clownfish on display that helps attract dinner for other animals and a Spanish hogfish reminding us to avoid overeating during the holidays.

The three-foot long laced moray eel lives in the warm-water crevices of reefs and under rocks in the tropical Pacific and Indian oceans. While the eel dines on crustaceans and sea urchins, it stays hidden and strikes prey as they pass by, earning it a reputation for being a peaceful, yet outgoing moray species.

Fairy basslets are tropical fish sporting Caribbean festival colors of deep purple and bright yellow. An interesting side note on basslets is that they begin life as females, with the potential of becoming male. A female basslet will turn into a male if one of the male fish in a school dies or if the school is large enough to need another male to balance out the population.

Upside-down jellyfish really do live upside down on the shallow ocean bottom and rarely swim around. It dines on small marine animals that get caught in its tentacles, although there is a species of shrimp (Periclimenes holthuisi) that lives around the upside-down jellyfish tentacles. It performs housekeeping duties for the jelly by removing parasites and other degrees, apparently in exchange for shelter.

A clownfish on exhibit displays a similar working relationship with a tentacle-toting anemone, by luring other fish close to the anemone's stinging tentacles and dining on the leftovers. To top it off, the clownfish has a coating protecting it from the same stings that paralyze other fishes.

And what holiday season would be complete without some one to help with the cleaning? The cleaner shrimp looks more like a spider or crab with bright coloring, but manages to eat parasites and other debris found on sandy bottoms or in rocky crevices.

Enchanted Seas also features seahorses hanging onto seagrass with their prehensile tails; a rainbow of tropical reef fishes flitting among the coral; sea dragons trailing frilly appendages; cuttlefish hovering like blimps; and children enjoying gaze-to-'gator vision of baby American alligators in a crawl-through tank. Visitors who crave a bit of the familiar will still find sea nettles, moon jellies and other recognizable jewels of the sea.

Enchanted Seas is made possible through the generous support of KYTE/KCRF, Charter Communications, Burger King, the Portland Fire WNBA, KMTR NewsSource 16/Eugene, Spirit Mountain Casino, Sea Horse Oceanfront Lodging, Safeway, Factory Stores @ Lincoln City and TLC Federal Credit Union.

Located just south of Newport, the Oregon Coast Aquarium is named one of the top 10 aquariums in the nation by Parade magazine. Immerse yourself in Passages of the Deep and walk beneath the waves through a 200-foot clear underwater tunnel that snakes through three ocean habitats. Encounter sharks, rays and thousands of other fish swimming around you. Experience an exhilarating sensation when you look around and realize you're completely surrounded!

Outdoors, rugged cliffs, caves and pools showcase the many fascinating fish and invertebrates of Oregon's coastal shores. Discover curious seals, sea lions and sea otters. A giant Pacific octopus lurks in an undersea coastal cave, and cartoonlike tufted puffins and other seabirds make their homes in one of the largest walk-through aviaries in North America.

Indoors, take a peek "Under the Lily Pad" at the Ocean Exploration Station for an up-close view of frogs, newts and salamanders as you discover that there's more to a pond than scum and explore the role these soggy spaces play in a healthy ecosystem. Visitors dip into the microscopic life of a pond community and see if they can identify the many creatures in the "duck soup" found in a pond ecosystem. Learn what's lurking beneath the pond's surface as you watch bluegills, compare newts and salamanders and search for tree and red-legged frogs. You'll be ribbetted!

Oregon Coast Aquarium admission is $10.75 for adults, $9.50 for seniors (65+), and $6.50 for children (4-13), children three and under are free. Advance tickets can be purchased on-line at www.aquarium.org. Group rates are available when arranged in advance. The Aquarium is open every day except December 25 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. up to Memorial Day weekend.

For additional information about the Oregon Coast Aquarium, surf www.aquarium.org or call 541-867-FISH.

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