Venice Oceanarium Offers a Closer Look at Marine Life

When I dropped by the Venice Oceanarium at end of the Venice Pier on Sunday, a nautilus had just been found in the water, and one of the visiting children was getting excited at the rare find.

Those little, spiral-shaped shellfish are native to a much warmer climate, and Tim Rudnick, the oceanarium’s director, speculated that the nautilus had drifted in with the current. "We actually get coconuts from the South washing up on the beach now and then," he said.

The oceanarium’s mission is to offer the public a chance to better understand the ocean and its flora and fauna, and on Sunday, that process was in full swing, as the excited elementary school-aged girl insisted that I look through a microscope at a tiny creature. Magnified, it looked gruesome, all tentacles and mouth.

“That’s a fish parasite,” Rudnick said.

A native Angeleno, Rudnick grew up on Venice Beach, with a passion for the ocean. He’s a contractor by trade but has gone out on more than a dozen ocean-faring research trips, collecting specimens as he went.

He held up one tube of tiny sea creatures that was was collected a mile beneath the surface, and he pointed out a scorpion fish, with its barbed spine. "This is the only dangerous fish in these waters. It’s venomous and can really hurt," he said.

In addition to the Sunday mid-day pier displays, the oceanarium hosts an annual , seaside walks and a public reading of Moby Dick on the beach every year. Rudnick has been mounting this weekly exhibit on folding tables without funding for 14 years.

"Right now, this is a museum without walls, but I’d like it installed on the pier in a more permanent setting, along with a petting tank," he said. "Perhaps we could establish learning stations all along the pier’s length."

He’d also like see better protection for the tide pools at the end of  Windward Avenue. "Too often, people will pick up something like a starfish and bring it home where it will quickly die," he said.

To realize his plans, Rudnick is looking for donors and volunteers.

The Venice Oceanarium will be taking part in the Kids' Quad during the Abbot Kinney Festival on Sunday. Check it out there, or find more information about the group at its website.

Be sure to fan Venice Patch on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more local news.