When a tide pool forms, many plants and animals often reside within. Some animals may temporarily be trapped and waiting for high tide to free them. Others make tide pools their permanent home, unwilling or unable to escape to the ocean. The result is a looking glass, for viewing and discovering life along a rocky coast. Tide Pool at Shedd Aquarium Beachcombers are likely to encounter tide pools similar to the one re-created in the Oceanarium.
Colorful sea anemones with stinging tentacles adhere to the rocks.
Bottom dwelling sculpins, using cryptic coloration, hide between mussel shells. Bat stars slowly move using their hundreds of tube feet. With these species and many more the tide pool really is a community in itself. Pools of water trapped in rocky hollows during low tide are home to a variety of small creatures, including sea stars, fish, crabs, mussels and anemones.