Aquatic research lab opens at U of M

Tossing fish in the pond is how the staffers at the Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center (MAISRC) celebrated a new lab at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul Campus.

It's an area where researchers, they say, will work to find ways to keep Minnesota lakes pristine and healthy for years to come.

"In this part of the facility it's primarily fish, it other parts of the facility it's plants and zebra mussel research." said Rob Darnell of Burns & McDonnell.

If you look around the several tanks, you'll notice everything is black...for a reason.

"It's really to block out the light and mimic the underwater conditions, so it's really ideal for studying aquatic invasive fish." said Sue Galatowitsch, MAISRC Director.

They plan to have 30 tanks in this center for studying invasive fish. The research center designed the new lab to have fresh water piped in from the ceiling. There is also technology to prevent dirty water from entering the environment.

"We will filter it through a microfilter to prevent any organisms from leaving and then we will dump it in to a chlorine tank to kill any organisms that might be present in the water." said Dan Krause, MAISRC.

All of this, to find ways to stop invasive species, like zebra mussel, from spreading across our lakes.