In-House Projects
The Deep’s team of highly qualified Marine Biologists constantly strive to advance the science of marine animal husbandry. We are continually assessing the diets that we use for the animals in our care as well as the veterinary care that we give them.
Typically our in-house projects look at optimal diets, ground breaking veterinary care, environmental enhancement and captive reproduction of threatened or endangered species.
Some of the projects undertaken to date are listed below
- Development of husbandry practices. Study of b-glucan immunostimulant.
Uses of as adjuvant to vaccination, combination treatments with antibiotics
and quarantine procedures.
- Preliminary studies into the efficacy of b-glucan immunostimulant as an
intramuscular injection.
- Continuation of praziquantel study with bioladen lifesupport systems
- Energetic studies of feeding regimes.
- Use of liquid vitamin supplementation of food and subjective study of health
and colouration of exhibit animals.
- Surgical procedures to remove an infected eye of a Flying Gurnard Dactylopterus
volitans and use of constant flow anaesthesia.
- Surgical excision, histological investigation into a tumor-like growth
and recovery of Greater Spotted Dogfish Scyliorhinus stellaris.
- Development of techniques for ‘in water’ administration of
intramuscular drugs.
- Study of mineral and essential element depletion of artificial seawater
in closed cycle filtration systems.
- Comparison of bath treatment and system dosing efficacy on the treatment
of a monogenean fluke infection in the Yellow Masked Angelfish Euxiphipops
xanthometapon.
- Tooth shedding rate in captive Grey Reef sharks, unique opportunity for
investigation into recording increase in tooth size possible correlations
with growth rates.
- Histological examination of post mortem samples with development of photographic
database for tissues references.
- Videographic and photographic database of post mortems and treatments -
their use in baseline line reference data, unique to The Deep.
- Trials with a sintered glass filtration column for removal of nitrates
on the coral quarantine system.
- Positive feedback habituation to visual targets in the Grey Reef Shark
Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos. A technique to segregate species for target feeding.
- Use of feeding stations to target specific exhibit animals.
- Environmental enrichment for the Day Octopus Octopus cyanea.
- Environmental enrichment for the Giant Pacific Octopus Entercotopus dolfeini.
- Trials and development of application of a new gel diet.
- Enrichment regimes for live food culture.
- Management database to amalgamate stock, transfers drug, treatment, PM,
photographs, donations from public, COSSH, and veterinary records- Aim to
design database transferable to other aquaria.
- Literature review of cold water corals eg. Lophelia sp. as background research
for future displays and development of husbandry manual for the European
coral FAITAG (Fish and Invertebrate Taxonomic Advisory Group)
- Continuous monitoring of behaviours observed in exhibits.
- Nutritional optimisation in the Moon Jelly, Aurelia aurita.
- Development of husbandry techniques for the White Spotted Jellyfish, Phyllorhiza punctata.