About

Bernie Kuhajda joined the Tennessee Aquarium in 2012 as an Aquatic Conservation Biologist after 25 years at the University of Alabama, where he managed a museum collection of 1 million specimens of preserved fishes from all around the world. Though his studies of freshwater fishes and other aquatic organisms have taken him around the United States, Mexico, and Central Asia, his particular expertise is surveying and monitoring threatened and endangered species from aquatic systems in the Southeast, in part to help evaluate the effectiveness of conservation programs. He has worked in habitats ranging from large rivers to headwater streams as well as springs and caves. He serves on multiple USFWS Recovery Teams/Groups for endangered and threatened species and is working with the Department of Agriculture and farmers to implement best management practices on agricultural lands to improve water quality.