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Sidney aquarium getting creative for naming newest giant Pacific octopus

Multimedia submission deadline July 25, winner to be announced in August
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Ollie, the mascot of the Sidney’s Shaw Centre for Salish Sea, has been making in the rounds in Sidney in recent days promoting the centre, which is currently accepting name submissions for its newest giant Pacific octopus. The centre is accepting creative submissions at oceaneer1@salishseacentre.org until 10 a.m. July 25. (Wolf Depner/News Staff)

Sidney’s Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea is using a new method to help name its newest giant Pacific octopus.

The facility is inviting residents to submit a name by recording a song, making a video or writing a poem or even a short story, said Tina Kelly, the centre’s director of learning and communications.

“The key part of this contest is that it is not just a name suggestion but backed by some creative proposal as to why that name is the one,” she said.

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Kelly said the centre wanted to try something different for this naming contest.

“Our previous method of having visitors choose from a selection of names off a ballot has always been very popular, but we know many people would like to pick their own name. We are excited to see the creative entries and many have already come in.”

Residents can submit their entries to oceaneer1@salishseacentre.org with the subject heading “I want to name an octopus!”

The deadline for submissions is July 25, 10 a.m. with the winning name announced in the centre’s August newsletter.


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wolfgang.depner@peninsulanewsreview.com



Wolf Depner

About the Author: Wolf Depner

I joined the national team with Black Press Media in 2023 from the Peninsula News Review, where I had reported on Vancouver Island's Saanich Peninsula since 2019.
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