A California Halibut and a Pacific Angel Shark lay next to each other at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium on Wednesday, February 23, 2011.

Ken Ahern and his two sons Matthew, 6, and Oliver, 4, look through binoculars in search of  Pacific Gray Whales during Santa Monica Pier Aquarium's, "Whale of a Weekend" on  Saturday, February 19, 2011.

Sophie Wessling, 5, places her hand painted fish onto the alter at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium during their annual Halloween and Dia de los Muertos celebration on Saturday, October 23, 2010.

Volunteers pick up trash during Heal the Bay's Coastal Cleanup Day on Saturday, September 25, 2010.

Over 60 nations participated making this possibly the largest volunteer day on the planet! Coastal Cleanup Day (CCD) began in 1985 and has grown into a huge annual event. Every state with a coastline participates, including the Great Lakes states, and even some inland states clean river and lake shores. Heal the Bay and the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors are the Los Angeles County coordinators for the state of California's Coastal Cleanup Day. They bring out over 10,000 volunteers to cleanup sites each year in L.A. County to over 50 sites along Santa Monica Bay and along inland creeks and waterways. Last year, over 12,000 volunteers from Los Angeles County joined together to pick up over 180,000 pounds of trash and recyclables from our beaches and waterwayCoastal Cleanup Day involves individuals, schools, community and company volunteer groups. Volunteers in Los Angeles County typically collect tens of thousands of pounds of trash and recyclable during a three-hour period. By filling out the trash "data cards" during the cleanup, volunteers are helping to identify and stop polluters in the future. Most people clean at the beach and on foot, but there are also special cleanups for inland creeks, boaters, kayakers, and divers. By far the most common item picked up are cigarette butts. Some of the more unusual items found in recent years were a chandelier, a briefcase full of graham crackers, and a bridal gown. Coastal Cleanup Day is held annually on the third Saturday of September.

Artist Amy Lay works on "Plastic: The Real Monster" at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium during their  Ocean Appreciation Weekend on Sunday, August 22, 2010. The environmental art sculpture aimed at educating visitors about the dangers of single-use and common household plastics and the threat they pose to the marine environment.

A Pacific angelshark (Squatina californica) eats her bi-weekly meal at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium on Friday, Aug. 20, 2010. She is latest resident of Santa Monica Pier Aquarium's Pier Habitat Exhibit. She is just under 2 feet long now, but will grow to about 4 to 5 feet in length. Angel sharks have flattened, sandy-colored bodies. They are ambush predator who conceal themselves on the sea floor buried in the sand and wait for approaching prey, primarily bony fishes and squid. The best time to observe this shark at the Aquarium is during feeding times on Tuesday and Friday afternoons; feeding of all the Aquarium animals begins at about 2:30 p.m.

Heal the bay Volunteer Amy Limon, 18, and Nicole Torosian, 8, spray water onto the Watershed Diorama at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium (SMPA) during its Earth Day theme weekend on  Sunday, 18, 2010.  The diorama, which was custom made for Heal the Bay by Andrew C. Aguilar, is designed for pollution education and to illustrate storm water runoff.