Sea Center Texas Sea turtle hatchery
— a Gulf in small rooms, lit from above.
Not only on a wall.
Sea Center Texas Sea turtle hatchery, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
Each tile ships in a kraft box, tied with cream ribbon, with a handwritten note from the studio if you'd like to add one.
Three or five different vistas, hung together — a chapter of places you've been, or want to go.
“Sea Center Texas sits inland from the Brazoria County beaches, a marine aquarium and saltwater fish hatchery run by Texas Parks and Wildlife. The indoor exhibits walk a visitor from a coastal marsh tank through bay, jetty, and reef, ending at a fifty-thousand-gallon Gulf tank with sharks and tarpon. Outside, a working hatchery raises millions of red drum and spotted seatrout fingerlings each year for release into Texas bays. Admission is free. A quiet boardwalk crosses a small wetland out back. — from the studio
The place, in three passes.
Sea Center Texas is a marine aquarium, education center, and saltwater fish hatchery operated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in Lake Jackson, about sixty miles south of Houston. It opened in 1996 as a partnership between TPWD, the Coastal Conservation Association, and Dow Chemical, which donated the land. The site combines indoor public aquarium galleries showing Gulf of Mexico habitats with an outdoor hatchery complex that raises sport fish for stocking Texas bays. A wetland boardwalk and a children's discovery room round out the campus.
The indoor aquarium walks a visitor from a coastal marsh tank through bay and jetty habitats to a 50,000-gallon Gulf of Mexico exhibit holding nurse sharks, tarpon, and groupers. Behind the visitor center, the hatchery operates large outdoor saltwater ponds that produce millions of red drum and spotted seatrout fingerlings each year, released into Brazoria and other Texas coastal bays as part of TPWD's marine stock-enhancement program. The hatchery is one of the largest of its kind on the Gulf Coast and the working heart of the site.
Admission is free. The center is open Tuesday through Saturday, generally 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, closed on most state holidays; check current hours before driving down. A touch tank holds hermit crabs and small rays, supervised by staff. The outdoor wetland boardwalk loops about a quarter-mile through native marsh plantings with interpretive signs. Hatchery tours are offered on a limited schedule, often by reservation, and are the best way to see the production ponds up close. Plan an hour and a half for a relaxed visit.
