Our collections
The permanent historical collection brings together artefacts and archives related to the history of the territory of the Saguenay Fjord and Baie des Ha! Ha!.
The living collection bring together specimens from the Fjord Aquarium, the touch pool and the Vivarium. The aquarium and the touch pool allow us to present and showcase the aquatic fauna of the Saguenay Fjord, while the Vivarium highlights amphibians, reptiles, insects and arthropods from Quebec as well as exotic species.
The third component is the collection for the used by our educational program (called the educational collection), and made up of objects, naturalized specimens, fossils, reproductions and works from the permanent collection considered to be of tertiary value and that have been removed from the permanent historical collection.
Living collection
Fish and crustaceans from the Saguenay fjord
A fjord is a valley that is formed after one or more passing glaciers have carved it out, giving it it's glacial trough form. It’s a U-shaped valley with steep and imposing rock walls. Fjords communicate with the sea and typically get freshwater from upstream rivers.
The Saguenay Fjord is a vibrant and complex ecosystem. We can see two very distinct bodies of water. The first, which is mildly salty, is found at the surface, fed by fresh river water that spills into the Fjord. The second is a very cold and deep layer of water with an especially high level of salinity. The tidal power causes the oxygen- and plankton-rich waters of the Saint-Lawrence to cross the threshold and enter the mouth of the Fjord, making it an ideal place for a number of fish species to live.
