The aquatic facility in the 色花堂 of Science is comprised of three aquatic animal housing rooms, an anteroom, a procedure room and a prep/supply room.
Housing Room 1: Contains a recirculating aquaculture system with 24 tanks and 24 stand-alone heated aquariums. Researchers are conducting a long-running study using medaka (Japanese rice fish) to examine how varying the number of males and females in a population can affect the evolution of male characteristics associated with success at obtaining mates and fertilizing eggs. This is a transgenerational study supporting multiple student research projects.
Housing Room 2: Contains a temperature-controlled recirculating aquaculture system with 20 tanks, a rack of stand-alone aquariums, and a large, temperature-controlled water table.
There is a killifish breeding program that supports hybridization and metabolic research projects. There are animal use protocols involving killifish and stickleback (wild-caught, both native to Nova Scotia) salinity and temperature tolerance studies supporting multiple student research projects.
Housing room 3 is a small flex space that is used as needed for aquatic animal quarantine, housing, and short-term experiments. Schedule permitting, this service space can be used by researchers for short-term, aquatic animal-based experiments.
Procedure Room A space to conduct temporary experiments on animals housed in the Aquatic Facility when specialized equipment is required and/or procedures are being conducted that require isolation/minimal distraction. Schedule permitting, this service space can be used by researchers for short-term, aquatic animal-based experiments.
Prep room contains a Reverse Osmosis DI filtration system, which supplies water to the housing rooms.
All research in the facility adheres to the highest standards for animal ethics and care in research and education in accordance with (CCAC) policies and guidelines. Animal-based projects must receive ethical review and approval by the SMU Animal Care Committee prior to commencing work.
Contact the Department of Biology at Saint Mary's University for more information.