Acuario de Veracruz A.C.

The Veracruz Aquarium is not only a tourist atraction, since it plays an important role in the management, care, and feeding of aquatic ecosystems. Twenty five Mexican specialists (oceanographers, biologists, engineers and aquaculturists), who work on important research fields such as sea turtle migration routes and protection, participate in this conservation conservation project. The Veracruz Aquarium even works as a temporary shelter for those animals, where they are fed, cured from diseases, restored to health; once in optimal condition, they are tagged and released in their natural environment. Another line of study is the conservation of coral reefs, shark and manatee reproduction. We are the only ones in the country with a special permit to raise and exhibit manatees and have been able to keep a blue shark in captivity for more than three years. We have two laboratories; one is used to produce live food (zooplankton and phytoplankton, brine shrimp, rotifers, beetles and micro worms); the other is used to continuously monitor water quality.

All these activities are undertaken in collaboration with several institutes, such as the Universidad Veracruzana, which use our installations to undertake field work and conduct students' thesis. The results from these investigations are used by the state to generate conservation studies to save marine organisms.