Who are Aquarium Veterinarians

Did you know that when you visit an aquarium, the animals you see have  special doctors on staff? These doctors make sure the aquatic animals receive the proper care, husbandry, diagnosis and treatments in order to live long and healthy lives. They are called aquarium veterinarians.

Aquatic animals are no exception and require completely different care than land animals. While aquariums around the world have the best interests of all the species in their care, they hire aquarium veterinarians. 

An aquarium veterinarian is a doctor that specializes in health and wellbeing of species that specifically live in the water. These habitats can be salt water, fresh water, or brackish water. And the animals could be a species that never leave the water, like 99.9% fish species, including manatees. Or they could be animals that thrive in both land and aquatic habitats like salamanders, turtles, penguins and gray seals.

Education and Training of Aquarium Veterinarians

Because of the wide diversity of aquatic species, there is a lot to learn and a lot of training in order to properly care for marine animals.

The education and training they must achieve is great. This includes learning proper nutritional requirements for each and every species in their care.

They must know each species husbandry needs. This is to ensure each species has a habitat as close to their natural environments.

Aquarium veterinarians and their staff also find creative ways to get the animals to willingly cooperate for testing and administering medications. 

Everyday is Different

Like veterinarians in other fields, even with their daily responsibilities and routines, every day is as different as every species is.

An article in VMD Today offers a little insight on aquarium veterinarians. They talk to several veterinarians around the country who describe what they do, where they do it, how they accomplish tasks that offer these aquatic animals a long and healthy life and why. Click Aquarium Medicine: An Ocean of Possibilities to read more about aquarium veterinarians.