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Aquaculture in the Classroom

Schools that participate in this program are provided with hatchery raised red drum fingerlings to culture in the classroom, along with starter feed and a consultation from DMFM and hatchery staff. Activities are developed in correlation to teacher's course curriculum. Students who participate in this hands-on program have the opportunity to design aquatic systems, maintain daily animal husbandry routines and develop research projects. Fish are grown out to different sizes for age and growth studies, in different water salinities for salinity tolerance tests, and in some cases, students have the opportunity to learn how to tag fingerlings and use them for tagging experiments. At the end of the school year, all fingerlings are euthanized on site, or returned to SERF to be used for Outreach and Education exhibits.