There’s so much to sea!

Within moments of arriving at Scarborough’s acclaimed Sea Life and Marine Sanctuary, my eldest daughter was making waves.

She pointed out one of the strangest creatures I have ever seen – a crab with a large, armoured vehicle-like shell – which was on its back, its legs moving helplessly in the water.

I was about to call the friendly assistant who greeted us on arrival, but then noticed a sign beside the tank: ‘Please do not be alarmed if you spot a horseshoe crab on its back. This is natural behaviour.’ These living fossils date back to Triassic times – more than 200 million years ago – when the first dinosaurs and primitive mammals appeared. If it ends up on its back, its tail – or telson – helps it to arch its body and turn over.

The crabs and their oceanic mates are captivating – yet this is just the first of many tanks containing amazing sights within this popular attraction.

Around the corner we entered the weird and wonderful world of jellyfish, floating in a dream-like state in a tank bathed in ultra-violet light. Both captivating and calming, I could have spent hours watching them drift around.

To add to the experience, there was soft music too, as there is throughout the sanctuary. It was so entrancing, I really didn’t want to leave. But there’s so much to see, and we only had one day.

Each aquarium has a factfile, enabling visitors to pick up fascinating snippets about the sea creatures. I was surprised to learn that jellyfish can grow even longer than a blue whale. The Arctic lion’s mane – the largest known species of jellyfish – can have 35 metre-long tentacles.

I knew that octopuses have eight arms – but was unaware they had three hearts and blue blood. They can also grow their arms back if they lose them.

The sanctuary has a central pool, where visitors get the chance to feed fish native to the waters around Britain. With see-through sides, my daughters were able to watch greedy mackerel gobble down the pieces of bait they threw into the water.

We all worried as to how the other fish – which included, sharks, rays, sea bream and cod – managed to get a look in.

“The mackerel are so greedy – they eat anything. At the end of the day we use litter pickers to hold food at the bottom of the pool for other fish as the mackerel don’t go down to the bottom.” explained Jess Mortimer, of the sanctuary’s entertainment team.

Jess gave an informative talk about sharks, dispelling myths about the danger they pose, despite recent events, and alerting us to the threat from hunting and the cruel practice of shark finning – to supply the demand for the Asian delicacy shark fin soup.

“The fish are caught, their fins hacked off and then they are thrown back alive to drown or be eaten by other fish.”

She added: “Sharks only produce a small number of young at a time. We are killing them faster than they reproduce.”

We were all surprised to discover that you are more likely to die from being hit on the head by a coconut, or – bizarrely – crushed by a vending machine, than from a shark attack.

The valuable work of staff at the sanctuary – one of a number across Europe – includes tagging sharks around the coastline, to monitor their breeding and swimming habits. “We pass information to the Government,” said Jess.

Other misconceptions about fish with a ferocious reputation were highlighted by the helpful members of staff. “Piranhas are actually quite shy and retiring,” said senior aquarist Todd German, telling us how, if there is any work to be carried out in their tank, they retreat to the furthest corner.

“It is the turtle you need to worry about,” he added. “She’s really curious. She will swim over and come right up to you, and she is so strong – you have to take care around her.”

The sanctuary’s loggerhead turtle Antiopi is 45 years old and was rescued from the Greek island of Zakynthos where she had suffered head injuries from a boat propeller. She cannot be returned to the wild due to damage to her brain, so has been given a permanent home in Scarborough.

We see her from the centre’s underwater walk-through tunnel. She is sleeping in her usual spot near the bottom corner of the tunnel with her head in the rocks. We return later to see her swimming around.

The network of Sea Life Centres runs a turtle sanctuary to find homes for a wide range of vulnerable and endangered species of turtle.

The network’s own environmental action and campaigning programme SOS Conservation also oversees the Sea Life and Santuary rescue programmes for seals and other marine creatures, and research and breeding projects for delicate and endangered species such as seahorses.

We visited the sanctuary’s seal hospital, where patients included a small seal, which was found on a local beach being harassed by a dog.

And an outdoor pool contained a number of very healthy seals, who seemed to delight in splashing us as we walked past. My daughters loved the penguin enclosure, where pop-up igloos allow visitors to get their heads inside the enclosure, up-close to the creatures. And we adored Eric and Cherry, brother-and-sister Asian short-clawed otters, who were basking in the winter sun.

One aquarium held the entire cast of Finding Nemo, with living replicas of Nemo, Dory, Flo, Bubbles, and the crew. And we all loved the amazing, leaf-like (one species is called ‘leafy’) sea dragons who, like the jellyfish, are mesmerising to watch.

When you’ve seen it all – and that may take more than one trip – the sanctuary has a large cafe with a safe soft play area for young children. We thoroughly enjoyed our day out and can’t wait to go back.