A sea lion named Ty kissed Ken Ramirez, Shedd’s executive vice-president of animal care, on Saturday night.

Dangling from ears, staring from tanks, stuffed on a table or sautéed on a plate, sea creatures were hard to miss Saturday night at Shedd Aquarium’s Luminescence gala.

The aquarium’s annual fundraiser took place at the historic structure. “You look at all the aquariums in the world and nothing comes close to the Shedd,” Ted Beattie, the aquarium’s president and CEO, said during the cocktail hour. The board, he said, has made it a “major priority” to keep the 82-year-old facility in top shape.

(Read Crain’s interview with Mr. Beattie and other Shedd executives here.)

Mr. Beattie worked the room in a tuxedo and a colorful tie and cummerbund printed with images of sea creatures. Several party guests also indulged in a little theme dressing. Party guest Susan Keegan Furlane accessorized her strapless pink gown with a pair of silver starfish earrings she bought Saturday at the Wells Street Art Festival. And many women wore blue or aqua gowns.

Cocktails started outside, but the 850 guests soon moved indoors to escape Saturday’s intense heat and humidity. Inside Shedd’s cool confines, they found plenty of seafood - salmon “lollipops,” Dungeness crab cakes, and a lavish sushi station - to accompany their cocktails. The ample supply of food and drink served to tide guests over until dinner was served around 9 p.m.

After cocktails, party-goers moved into the lakefront Oceanarium theater for an hour-long program of fundraising and a show that featured dolphins, sea lions, penguins and CBS anchor/news personality Bill Kurtis. Mr. Kurtis, the evening’s emcee, starred in a black-and-white film called “The Anchor,” a takeoff of the black-and-white movie “The Artist.” In the film, Mr. Kurtis was tortured by villains played by Mr. Beattie and Ken Ramirez, Shedd’s executive vice-president of animal care, and rescued by a beagle named Glory.

As the film’s finale, Mr. Kurtis and Glory trotted off the screen and into the Oceanarium. Mr. Kurtis demonstrated a few dog-training tricks, the same ploys Shedd staff uses to train dolphins, whales and gala emcees, he explained.

Meanwhile, out in the Oceanarium’s water, trainers wearing wet suits more form-fitting than any cocktail dress led a pair of snow-white beluga whales through a routine to “Sing Sing Sing.” A pack of Magellanic penguins marched in to “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” and then, in the arms of trainers, visited with gala guests. A sea lion named Ty performed a pas de deux with Mr. Ramirez.

Then it was fundraising time. The live auction raised $47,000, and a paddle raise conjured another $105,000. Guests were then released for dinner, which was set up in Shedd’s original galleries. The paddlefish caviar and Maine lobster tail served for dinner came from sustainable sources, according to a Shedd spokeswoman.

The gala grossed an estimated $938,000 to fund Shedd’s education and outreach programs.