Juan Manuel (Manny) Ezcurra has a job many would give their right pectoral fin for – he works with elasmobranchs (read: sharks!) at the Monterey Bay Aquarium!

How did his master’s at Moss Landing Marine Labs prepare him for this splashy job?  Read his interview on our Alumni Career Interviews page to find out!

Manny acknowledges that the getting a job at an aquarium can be tough (lots of competition for few resources) – but it helps if you can find a specialized niche.  For Manny, that niche is diet.  He helps decide what type of food, and how much of it, to feed the sharks on display – which is important to keep them from eating their tank-mates!

Manny shares:  “At times you need to take opportunities that aren’t quite what you had in mind: the first job I had at the Monterey Bay Aquarium was dressing up as marine creatures for the outreach education programs.  But I was able to get a commercial license to drive to the schools in our Aquarivan, and the driving lessons still help me today while I’m driving on the freeways with a tank of water weighing over 3,000 lbs. in the back of our trucks after a collection trip.”  Read more of his interveiw by clicking here!