Also called: Fish Vet, Fish Pathologist
Diagnoses and treats diseases in farmed fish, hatchery fish, and aquarium animals.
You visit a salmon farm where fish are dying, take gill samples, and run tests to find the parasite responsible. Then you prescribe treatment for a pen holding 50,000 fish. Other days you're at a public aquarium checking on sharks.
Estimate.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Professional degree (MD, JD, DVM…), about 8 years after high school. DVM, often with extra aquatic training; fish health biologists may have a PhD instead.
Ways in: 4-year college, Professional school, Graduate school. Training cost: Over $150k.
Majors to look at: Animal Science, Marine Biology, Pre-Veterinary Medicine.
Growing faster than average. Aquaculture growth is increasing demand for fish health experts.
Low risk for 10 years. AI helps read lab and water data; diagnosing and treating sick fish on farms and in aquariums stays hands-on.
Classes: Biology, Chemistry, Statistics.
Official data: O*NET occupation 29-1131.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.