Tales of a Coral Aqauarist
MICHELE WINSHIP
Looking back, my relationship with the ocean has been ever changing. Growing up in New Jersey, every summer the beach was the destination that my brother and I looked forward to all year long. Going out into the water, throwing the football around, and body surfing. As I got older, it became the weekend hangout with a group of friends. We would head to the amusements on the piers jetting out over the water, losing track of time as the night escaped us. It wasn’t until college that I realized that the ocean would become a pivotal part of my life.
When I first was accepted to Delaware Valley College (now Delaware Valley University) in 2008, I’ll be honest, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. The notion of having to know what you want to do for the rest of your life was a very daunting proposition. I knew going in that I had 4 years to figure out something that I was good at, and could see myself doing for a long time. A month into my freshman year, there was an opening as an animal laboratory technician on campus. When I found this out, I jumped on it. One, for an extra source of income and two, an opportunity to work hands on with animals in an environment that was foreign to me. In fall of my junior year they decided to offer their first aquatics class. With this class, they wanted to incorporate a lab portion which included taking care of freshwater fish. My supervisor at the time offered the job to anyone who would be interested and willing to take this project head on. To my surprise no one was interested, so I volunteered to do it. What I didn’t know at the time was that this would be my first aquatics job that would unknowingly shape my career.
A few years and career moves later, I find myself as an aquarist at the New York Aquarium (NYA). For the first time, I can confidently tell people that my job doesn’t feel like “a job”, which is something I have been wanting to find for a very long time. At NYA, I am one of the aquarist who is primarily in charge of the Conservation Hall galleries. This includes three 1,000+gallon SPS and LPS coral tanks, and 10 freshwater exhibits ranging from 30-3,000 gallons. My duties include all aspects of husbandry care from daily feeds, water quality sampling and adjustments, maintaining all life support systems, addressing specific species needs (coral and fish alike), exhibit maintenance and construction, and much more. With this in mind, science plays a vital role in the daily care of these animals.
One of the things I find most fascinating about being an aquarist is how different every day can be. As an aquarist, the majority of my time is focused on adjusting and manipulating the environment based on the animal’s needs. Science plays a HUGE part in this. If you have ever worked with coral, you understand that environmental factors play an integral part in their health and wellbeing. Because of this, we take environmental assessments on these systems very seriously (I have personally seen what was once healthy coral colonies bleach within a day due to environmental mishaps). This is why it is critical to understand the science behind coral reefs and how we can apply it to our exhibits at NYA.
For us, a typical week of caring for these corals includes water testing multiple times a week, dosing the exhibits to keep these parameters within range and stable, adjusting flow within the exhibit based on specific coral species needs, adjusting lighting and placement of coral, diving the exhibit to perform routine maintenance, monitoring overall health of coral colonies, and the list goes on. All of these factors put together create a healthy, beautiful coral reef all in part to other aquarists and coral scientists alike. If it wasn’t for those scientists before me who were out in the field, doing the work, collecting data and other research, our knowledge for caring for such delicate creatures like coral would not be what it is today.
If there was one scientific tool that aquarists rely on a daily basis, it is the scientific method. Aquarists tend to play many different roles such as resident biologist, chemist, interpreter, gardener, veterinarian, mechanic, nutritionist, matchmaker, babysitter, ex. It is because you play so many different roles throughout the day, it is inevitable that you will run into a problem that needs a solution. The scientific method is the common link that connects your problem to the solution. It might sound like the most basic of answers, but when you are dealing with creating an ecosystem and working with living creatures that in some cases have never been kept in a closed environment it is typically the way you precede. For example, say we have a piece of coral that is starting to turn pale in color. We first observe the animal is in some type of distress. We then research reasons why the coral would be losing zooxanthella (ie. environmental factors, pests, algae, aggressed upon, ex.). We then look at the colony as a whole, hypothesizing reasons why the change in color happened (Any change in water chemistry? Any change in lighting or other environmental factors? Possible shading of the coral? A fish or another coral aggressing on it? A nudibranch or other pest that might be hurting it?) Once we narrow down a possible hypothesis, we make the adjustments necessary to make the corrective actions. For corals and other sensitive invertebrates, this change is done gradually. Any kind of swift and sudden change can compromise the integrity of the animal and cause detrimental and at times, unintended harm. When we start making these adjustments and depending on the situation, we will observe on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis. Once we start noticing a change, whether positive or negative, we will record our results and share them with other colleagues in hopes to better our knowledge of these fascinating creatures!
Of the many branches of science, formal science is not the only kind of science aquarists use. We also utilized a mixture of natural and social science as well! Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to be presented the opportunity to come up with a new concept for one of our coral exhibits. The overarching goal of the exhibit was to highlight the fragmentation and growth of coral within an aquarium setting. After some thinking, I drew inspiration from the research that was being done by the Coral Restoration Foundation. The Coral Restoration Foundation is an organization that grows and outplants various endangered species of corals in hopes to restore existing coral reef sites to a healthier state. To help accomplish this, they use “coral trees” to repopulate areas of coral reefs. These coral trees were designed based on data that researchers collected on coral restoration. The coral trees provide a place for coral fragments to be monitored for overall health, prevent sediment accumulation, lower risk of predation, can be easily altered to adjust for any environmental changes, and are relatively simple and easy to maintain. It is because of this that we choose to make our own version of this design for our coral frag display. To showcase the coral frags we had propagated, we recreated our own versions of “coral trees” within the exhibit. From there, the next step was to create an enclosed ecosystem.
Once we chose the concept for the tank, the real work began. For photosynthetic animals, lighting plays a crucial part in their health. We aren’t talking about any kind of light either, rather one that is designed specifically for the species you want to grow. For our exhibit we chose lights that were LEDs (more energy efficient, temperature controlled, crisper light output), had the correct intensity (since the tank was 6ft deep, we needed to find a light with the intensity that can penetrate down to the lowest level of corals), and covered a broad spectrum of light. One of the other requirements is that the intensity/ PAR (Photosynthetic Available Radiation) had to be adjustable. This is for two reasons:
1: different coral species have different lighting requirements 2: acclimating corals from one environment to another so not to “shock” them with dramatic lighting changes
Once we got the lighting correct, we looked at how we could improve the existing life support systems (LSS). LSS are the mechanical pieces that work to keep the animal’s environment stable and healthy. This includes forms of mechanical (physically removing particulates from the water), chemical (utilizing chemical components to adjust water quality), and biological (using specialized bacteria to break down toxic buildup of waste) filtration. Another aspect of LSS that we wanted to incorporate was adequate water flow, since it was going to be primarily a coral only exhibit. To accomplish this we upgraded the primary pumps returning into 4 different locations within the exhibit, as well as two additional pumps that create random flow simulating the changing currents in the ocean. We knew based on prior research from other aquarists and scientists that proper flow is essential for coral respiration, growth and overall health of the animal. I like to think that 70% of my job is more of maintaining the life support and making sure the overall environment is close to perfect as possible for the animals that inhabit it. I view this as one of my primary jobs because these are crucial aspects that insure the animal has all the tools necessary for success.
After all the main exhibit alterations were made, it was time to start focusing on the fun part, the exhibit itself that everyone will see! To begin, we repainted the walls and floor with a two part epoxy paint to give it a bit of an esthetic facelift. Once we did that, we built and installed the coral trees which in my opinion was the most fun and challenging part of the build. In the beginning we knew we wanted the main focus to be displaying coral frags in a way that was engaging for the guests, and provided the requirements for optimal coral growth. To achieve this, we looked at research done by other aquarist and researchers whose focus was on coral propagation. What I found was I really liked the idea of being able to showcase what researchers were doing out in the field, and modifying it to an enclosed environment. The reason I choose the coral tree design was because it was proven to work. What scientists found was that by using this coral tree design it prevented sediment accumulation, did not interfere with light penetration to the coral frags, was easy to maintain, easy to assess growth and overall coral health, and compatible for a variety of coral species requirements. We did modify them to fit our exhibit needs (ie. using trays to display plugs instead of only hanging them). This allowed us to showcase a variety of coral species ranging from acropora, pocillopora, euphyllia, galaxea, ex. The corals were then arranged on the coral trees based on their respective lighting requirements. Once this was completed, all that was left was to add the “live” sand and “live” rock. The reason it is “live” is because it is enriched with beneficial bacteria that help with the breakdown of waste and create that homeostasis between the coral and the environment it lives in. And just like that, a manmade coral reef ecosystem was born!
What I just described is just one of many ways that science influences my aquarist career. I take pride in being able to utilize research that has been done by scientists all across the globe and being able to create ecosystems that harvest symbiotic relationships that nature created, showcasing a snapshot of what different aquatic ecosystems look like. My relationship with the ocean even at this point in my life is still ever changing. Every day we are learning something new about our oceans that we didn’t know before, which is an amazing thing. The more we learn and share with our communities, the better the animals in our care will be. Being a part of this scientific community is a truly empowering thing. I look forward every day to provide the best care possible for the animals I am forever grateful to share my life with, and this could not be possible if not for the men and women before me who share that same passion of wanting to better the world around us. And for that, I say thank you.