Visitors will get a closeup, hands-on experience with sea stars, gentle swell sharks, crabs, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, snails and abalone at "Museum Gone Wet & Wild: Awesome Aquatic Adventures," presented from noon to 3 p.m. Sat., April 8 at the Ventura County Museum of History & Art, 100 E. Main St., Ventura.

The Mobile Reef touch tank, filled with sea life found in the Santa Barbara Channel, will be brought by the Marine Science Institute at UC Santa Barbara. Marine biologists and students from the university will use an interactive, hands-on approach to share the history and biology of these creatures.

Families can also make rubber fish art prints and visit activity tables, where staff and volunteers from the Channel Islands National Park and surrounding National Marine Sanctuary will share information about ocean and island adventures available from local harbors.

The event is free with museum admission ($4 adults, $3 seniors, $1 children; museum members and children 5 and under free). For further information, please call (805) 653-0323, ext. 10.