Ocean Connection
Ocean Connection: Where the River Flows is our 5th and 6th grade outreach program designed around California Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core that focuses on our planet's hydrologic cycle. Tying this concept to our own local San Joaquin River watershed, students engage with two Institute educators in a fun, interactive program that includes an art component (all supplies included), reading, vocabulary and presentational sections, a short movie and a visit to our traveling California tide pool to see and touch living sea creatures right in their classroom! Everyone receives an "I Touched A Seastar" sticker and a Water Drop Conservation Workbook to take home!
To schedule this field trip that comes to you, please contact us.
Mentoring Program at CART
Our William F. Noli award-winning mentoring program at the Center for Advanced Research and Technology (CART) has been teaching Fresno and Clovis high school students the necessary techniques to raise corals and even hatch salmon in classroom aquariums since 2003. Through hands-on experience, the students are learning about the fragility of our planet's most precious aquatic resources.
Aquatic Life Presentations
Aquarius Aquarium Institute's Aquatic Life Presentations give our Charter Members, students and the general public opportunities to meet guest biologists, aquarium experts, SCUBA divers and underwater photographers who are well-recognized in their respective fields. See some of the Institute's past Aquatic Life Presenters.
Institute Research
Current Institute research is focused on optimizing water quality and clarity in large recirculating systems. We test new technologies and methodologies for closed-system freshwater and marine aquaria and broodstock development. Institute aquarists are constantly experimenting to find the most water efficient, energy efficient and labor-saving strategies to optimize living conditions for the precious animals in our care from juveniles to adults.
As an example, we worked in collaboration with Frederick Goetz, Ph.D. of the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee's Great Lakes WATER Institute and the California Academy of Sciences Steinhart Aquarium to grow out broodstock for a new Tambaqui breeding program. Tambaqui are also known as Black Pacu (Colossoma macropomum) and are native to South America. Our Tambaqui story was published in Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine.
Video of the Tambaqui when they were here in Fresno:
Here are some links to other websites we like for more information
about the status of our planet's aquatic ecosystems:
California Academy of Sciences
International Coral Reef Initiative
National Marine Fisheries Service
The Nature Conservancy - Palmyra
Enchanted Learning Software - Sharks
Enchanted Learning Coral Reef Coloring Page
