‘Maroon Lagoon’ Newest Addition To Saltwater Aquarium Initiative

Texas A&M University President Michael K. Young is sharing office space with the “Maroon Lagoon.”

That’s the name of the new 120-gallon saltwater aquarium, which has been placed in President Young’s office by the university’s Texas Sea Grant College Program. The name is courtesy of freshman business major Sean Dempsey from San Angelo who won the campus-wide naming contest.

President Young said he is very much appreciative of the new saltwater aquarium.

“It presents a unique vehicle to talk with visitors about the remarkable programs at Texas A&M, including the Oceanography, Ocean Engineering, and the International Ocean Discovery Programs, to name a few,” he said.

The Brazos River watershed is one of only two in Texas that drain directly into the Gulf of Mexico; the others empty into the state’s estuaries. Texas Sea Grant launched its Brazos Valley ocean awareness outreach program three years ago with support from the Texas A&M Provost’s Office, starting with a 300-gallon saltwater aquarium in the university’s Memorial Student Center.

That aquarium, dubbed “Aglantis” in a similar naming contest, holds species native to the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean to remind visitors of the impacts of inland activities on the health of these coastal and marine ecosystems.

The “Maroon Lagoon” includes species from the Caribbean as well as other areas of the world’s oceans.

“We are excited about the addition of another saltwater aquarium on the Texas A&M campus,” said Rhonda Patterson, Texas Sea Grant’s outreach specialist. “President Young is very concerned about the many issues affecting the oceans around the world, and now every visitor to his office can observe this small piece of the ocean and see why we need to band together to make a difference for our oceans and the animals that live there.”

Texas Sea Grant’s ocean awareness initiative in the Brazos Valley includes both the large “Aglantis” aquarium and the “Aglantis Jr. Adopt-A-Tank Program,” in which area K-12 schools adopt 29-gallon saltwater aquariums from Texas Sea Grant for use in the classroom. So far, the 40 smaller aquariums have been placed in 51 Brazos Valley classrooms, with 11 returned and re-adopted.

“Our mission is to help the people in our community improve their understanding about how they can make a difference for our oceans right here in the Brazos Valley,” Patterson said.