Alaska Sealife Center

This Atka Mackeral is one of many species of "rockfish" found in Alaska.

A small specimen of the Halibut we know and love (...to eat, that is).  Not the prettiest fish in the sea but a tasty meal.

Kelp bass (Paralabrax clathratus).  These live on small fish and crustaceans but have even been known to bite at humans; as you would expect, they don't cause serious injury with their rather small teeth.

Red King Crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus). Note the crab pot in the background.  There are actually three different species of commercially harvested King Crabs in Alaska: the red king crab, the blue king crab and the golden king crab.  Alaskan crab fishing is very dangerous and it has been suggested that, on average, one crab fisherman dies every week, during the short Winter King Crab season.

I don't know about you but I always wondered where those cod fillets came from. Best I can tell this is either a cod or a pollock (my bet is on cod). Either way, it's graced your freezer aisle...although, even the once super-abundant cod has gotten expensive these days as cod stocks dwindle.

This is a Puget Sound Rockfish, one of the many species of Alaskan Rockfish.

This Rock Greenling really lights up when under a flash. Note the really cool appendages (cirrus) above the eye.

Spot Shrimp are found clear down to California and are frequently caught and eaten in Alaska.

This Harbor seal does not have to worry about killer whales and gets his fill of fish every day. What a life! He did seem to like to swim by the window upside down (very consistently).

This a male Steller Sea lion  (Eumetopias jubatus), also known as the Northern Sea lion.  You can see these on the Kenai Peninsula. Their young traditionally fed on juicy, oily, nutritious herring. Unfortunately, the declining herring stocks and human competition have forced them to work harder/deeper searching for Pollock which, unfortunately, have less nutrition and oil/fat than herring, causing a decrease in the pup survival rate.

Common Guillemot or Common Murre, Uria aalge. They are members of the awk family. I suppose these are the Northern equivalent of penguins. Like some penguins, this bird spends most of its time at sea, returning to land to breed.

These are Harlequin Ducks, Histrionicus histrionicus, a small but brightly colored sea duck. They were moderately common in Prince William Sound although they definitely kept their distance. I'd assume they are human-wary because of hunters.

King Eider duck, Somateria spectabilis, is a large, Nothern sea duck that breeds along the Arctic Coast. The colors literally glow when you see them in person (this is a male). Southern Alaska is their Winter habitat and they migrate up to the Arctic Circle to nest and hatch their young in the Summer.

I saw a fair number of tufted puffins out on the open water out along the Kenai Peninsula but they typically took flight as the boat got close enough for a good telephoto picture. These little puffins were quite tame and took turns stepping onto a scale to be weighed (for a fish, of course).

This juvenile Tufted Puffin was the friendliest of the bunch, preferring to hang out with the people while hoping for handouts.

The Long-Tailed Duck, Clangula hyemalis, is a medium-sized sea duck! This one swam  very fast and was not at all photogenic.

Red Footed Kittiwake, Rissa brevirostris. Most of the Kittiwakes in Seward Harbor were Black Footed Kittiwakes but I did see one or two Red Footted ones as well. I dare say you need to get moderately close to see those little feet. Either color is apparenly good eating for a host of creatures including peregrines, bears (eggs), ravens and eagles and we sadly ran into a fair number of Kittiwake feather piles during our hikes and even saw one being chased in a death race with a peregrine.