The Seto Marine Biological Laboratory (瀬戸臨海実験所, also known as SMBL), is a

marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and ...

field station of

Kyoto University , or , is a National university, national research university in Kyoto, Japan. Founded in 1897, it is one of the former Imperial Universities and the second oldest university in Japan. The university has ten undergraduate faculties, eighteen gra ...

. It is located in the small town of Shirahama in

Wakayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 876,030 () and a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture to ...

about 230 km from Kyoto. the aquarium is accredited as a Museum-equivalent facilities by the Museum Act from

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology The , also known as MEXT, is one of the eleven ministries of Japan that compose part of the executive branch of the government of Japan. History The Meiji period, Meiji government created the first Ministry of Education in 1871. In January 2001 ...

History

Established in 1922, research at the lab has historically been focused on marine invertebrates. A small island, Hatakejima, belongs to the laboratory and serves as an experimental field site in southeastern Tanabe Bay. The Shirahama Aquarium, open to the public, is located next to the research laboratories and operated by SMBL. In 2003, Kyoto University combined SMBL with the Maizuru Fisheries Research Station, University Forests, and the Subtropical Plant Institute into an administrative unit named the Field Science Education and Research Center (FSERC). The scientific journal ''Publications of the Seto Marine Biological Laboratory'' has been published by SMBL since 1949. The building reopened in July 2014 after renovation work including earthquake resistance.Seto marine biological laboratory

References

External links

Archive of Publications of the Seto Marine Biological LaboratoryField Science Education and Research Center, Kyoto University
Biological research institutes Kyoto University Buildings and structures in Wakayama Prefecture Education in Wakayama Prefecture Tourist attractions in Wakayama Prefecture Marine biological stations {{Japan-university-stub