Kristin Coury ’14 has loved animals and nature since she was a child. In the spring and summer, one could find her searching under bushes and flipping logs in the hopes of catching a toad or treefrog.
Today, she works as a senior aquarist in the Australia and Rain Forest Department at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Md. From preparing the meals for the freshwater fish in her care, to SCUBA diving, cleaning exhibits and observing animals, she is in charge of a variety of aquatic responsibilities.
After the daily diving chores, she moves onto feeding. Fish are fed—everything from mangoes to earthworms—in a particular order to minimize diet competition and to meet behavioral and dietary needs. She says the highlight of her days is training freshwater stingrays.
“They have such unique ways of interacting with their environments (and their trainer) that I feel I learn something new from them every day,” she said.
Graduating from Messiah with a degree in biology, she did not foresee herself working in aquatics in the years to come. She then attended an education abroad course in Panama and Costa Rica that helped her visualize a career path in conservation biology.
“I now work to care for some of the species that I first encountered in that course,” she said.
During her junior and senior years, she conducted amphibian disease research--which was later published--with biology professors Erik Lindquist and Michael Shin.
“My education at Messiah undoubtedly prepared me to enter the workforce with a scientific mind and a passion for reconciling the relationship of humans to wild animals and wild places,” she said.
After graduation, she volunteered at Maymont Nature Center in Richmond, Va. The volunteer work soon turned into a part-time position and eventually a full-time job at the center.
After spending three years at Maymont, she and her husband moved to the greater Baltimore area in 2018, when she began working at the National Aquarium. As a full-time biologist, she has cared for American alligators, freshwater and saltwater fish, screech owls, river otters, venomous snakes and amphibians. She says she fell in love with the profession of aquatic husbandry, learning skills such as water quality chemistry, pluming and behavioral management.
“While my path into the field was a little serendipitous, I quickly came to find that aquatic husbandry was an ideal blend of science, creative problem-solving and innovation. There truly is never a dull day, and I feel so privileged to care for animals that help educate the public and promote conservation,” she said.
—Molly McKim ’23