Maggie Lile, features editor

As residents of Minnesota, it doesn’t come as a surprise that opportunities to interact with a diverse range of marine life are rare, if even possible at all. But this has changed over the years with Augsburg’s very own coral reef aquarium. 

Professor Emeritus William Capman has devoted countless hours into making the coral reef aquarium a reality. With a deep connection to aquarium care that began in his childhood, Capman was placed at the helm of this relatively new concept for the biology department in the 1990s. “…I started climbing the steep learning curve in understanding how coral reef aquariums (with live corals) function – this was all new to me, and most of what I initially thought I knew about coral reef aquariums was wrong – and after a couple years we had our first coral reef aquarium system in the general biology lab in the old science building,” he stated in an interview with the Echo.

Years later in 2015, after experiencing a range of local success and interest, the design of the brand new Hagfors Center opened the door to an expansion of the aquariums. This is when Capman designed the lab that students are currently working with. The lab features a large coral reef aquarium holding around 350 gallons and hosting live stony corals, various species of coral reef fish, crustaceans, urchins, brittle stars, sponges and more. Within these aquatic havens, several fish are nearly 30 years old, as well as anemones and coral colonies that are decades old.

With the expansion of the tanks came even more success. “We have become nationally and even internationally known for our significant accomplishments in marine fish and invertebrate breeding, particularly our success with blue tuxedo urchins,” Capman said. “There are very few universities or colleges in the U.S. with coral reef aquariums of this caliber, or with labs like ours, particularly labs doing marine breeding. There are very few schools where students can experience a similar diversity of marine life.”

With the success and star-power of this aquarium, Augsburg has also hosted three Minnesota Aquarium Society Expos since 2019. On March 22, the most recent exposition drew a crowd of over 2,000 people to learn and appreciate all that the coral reef aquarium has to offer. 

There are a variety of ways that students can experience this aquarium, such as research, class work or lab duties. “Since moving into Hagfors [various] students have worked with me in the lab, sharing in responsibilities of the aquariums and lab…these students have not only learned about the care of sophisticated, complex aquarium systems, but have gotten to know the organisms intimately,” Capman said. Some students have even gone as far to pursue URGO research projects involving the aquariums, as well as having a hand in “developing cutting edge, state of the art marine breeding methodology.”

“Students with a deep desire to learn about marine life, coral reef aquarium methodology, and marine fish and invertebrate breeding can contact me to see if we have the ability to get them involved,” Capman added. Whether you’re searching for a new job, a continuation of an old hobby or just a peaceful look into an entirely different world, the coral reef aquarium in Hagfors 204 is the perfect place to be.