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| BioAquatics Facility | |
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BioAquatics Facility Director - Dr. Bruce Riley BSBE 120 |
The BioAquatics Facility, housed on the first floor of the Biological Sciences Building East on the main campus of Texas A&M University, provides the Department of Biology with a modern, centralized, aquatic animal care facility available for Biology faculty working with aquatic organisms. It enables the Biology Department to provide excellent care for the large number and diverse species kept for research (fish, reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans, mollusks, and cnidarians) and teaching (amphibians, reptiles, fish, and invertebrates). Opened in September of 1989 and recently renovated, the Facility comprises over 2300 square feet of animal holding space, five research laboratories, offices for faculty and graduate students, a centralized feed and storage area, recirculating air and water supply systems and public displays. Collections of fish and invertebrates located in two adjacent buildings (Butler and Heldenfels Halls) are used in teaching. Other research animals (fish, crustaceans and reptiles) are housed in Butler Hall and BSBW. Most of the Facility is devoted to animal holding rooms. There are twelve animal rooms in BSBE. Staff includes a BioAquatics Animal Resource Supervisor and several student workers. The BioAquatics Staff observe the animals daily and assure that the facility and animal programs follow all federal and university guidelines for proper animal care. In 1990, the animal care programs in the Facility received official recognition of our excellence in the form of accreditation by the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC). The Facility is inspected by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC) twice a year and every three years by AAALAC . The BioAquatics Facility has maintained the high standards set by both these agencies. |
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