Coral Husbandry Internship

The Florida Aquarium’s Coral Husbandry internship offers a well-rounded, educational experience working with our team of professionals. Supporting the Coral Conservation team, the primary function of the Coral Husbandry intern is to provide care for adult and juvenile corals being raised at the Coral Care Complex in Apollo Beach.

With the exception of orientation and workshops, this internship position is entirely carried out at our Apollo Beach location.

Learning Objectives

• Develop all skills necessary for coral husbandry, including feeding, water quality management, light levels, flow, water changes, filtration, etc
• Gain an understanding of the crisis currently occurring on Florida’s Coral Reefs and the efforts undertaken by coral practitioners and TFA to address it
• Acquire knowledge about the spawning, reproduction, and rearing processes of corals at The Apollo Beach campus at TFA

Responsibilities (including but not limited to):

• Develop knowledge and experience in coral husbandry, biology, life history, and life support technology
• Conduct daily duties to assist primary biologist on live coral aquaria, including but not limited to cleaning, performing water changes, maintaining life support systems, feeding, and managing water quality parameters
• Assist with gathering health assessment data and keeping accurate and detailed daily records
• Utilize dissecting microscope to clean coral settlement tiles
• Assist with medical treatments
• Assist with coral spawning observations and gamete collection
• Acquire knowledge about the spawning, reproduction, and rearing processes of corals at The Florida Aquarium’s Apollo Beach campus
• Other duties as assigned by internship supervisor

Qualifications

• Previous experience with reef aquarium husbandry and knowledge of basic coral and marine invertebrate biology
• Experience using dissecting microscopes and ability/desire to work using a microscope for many hours
• Ability to work in hot and humid conditions
• Ability to lift 30 lbs
• Strong attention to detail and ability to work independently
• Must be a college sophomore or higher with a GPA of 2.5 or above OR up to 6-months postgraduate with a preference to candidates with a GPA of 4.0

Time Commitment

• Four days a week with a minimum of 4 hours per day OR 2 days a week with a minimum of 8 hours per day. No more than 1 weekend day per week
• Exact hours will vary depending on the stage of the project but generally, the intern will work 16 hours per week

This internship is unpaid and complies with the Fair Labor Standards Act. Interns must make their own accommodation and transportation arrangements.

We are not currently accepting applications.