Aquatic animal medicine is a young profession, and as such brings challenges and opportunities to all involved. With growing public awareness of conservation and animal care, and the dramatic growth in public aquaria, there can be no doubt that aquatic animal medicine is a speciality in demand.

Caring for the health of aquatic animals can be approached from two directions, clinical and non-clinical, and areas of need can be identified in each. Current training is not comprehensive, and there are some disciplines that need strengthening, and other that need to be developed anew.

When identifying disciplines to focus on, we can consider different animal groups, geographic regions, causes of morbidity and mortality, or methods of approach. For example, of the diversity of animals that we are concerned with, vertebrates have traditionally received the most attention, which has left something of a void in care of invertebrates. Similarly, much more is known of the health of temperate animals, than of those from tropical regions.

Priorities in fish health research have recently been identified and discussed at a USDA/CSRS workshop in Atlanta, Georgia held in June 1992. The ten research priorities include pathogenicity, stress management, disease prevention, chemotherapeutics, immunology, and certification and diagnosis. Pursuit of these priorities can guide our choice of discipline development. Identification of priorities for the other groups of aquatic animals is needed.