Laboratory manager Dr Doug Mackie is "really excited" to see the "very positive" reaction of Otago marine science students to the new teaching facilities.
"Once they come in and see that laboratory it’s ‘Wow, I want to do marine science’," he said.
Dr Mackie, who has been working at the complex for the past three and a-half years, is enjoying the new facility, which began operating this year, after a more than $5million redevelopment of the overall Portobello complex.
The "Batham Teaching Laboratory" has also just been named in honour of the marine laboratory’s award-winning inaugural director Dr Betty Batham.
The new facility was built in place of the old Portobello aquarium which was demolished after it was found to be vulnerable to damage from an earthquake.
It closed to the public in 2012.
The new 200sq m teaching facility is twice the previous size, has 6m-long, 6000-litre viewing tanks where crayfish and other sea creatures can be seen, and big windows provide attractive harbour views.
The new, purpose-built facility gave students easy access to "a lot of different creatures".
"Now they can see it for real."
The laboratory can also accommodate 42 seated students, with room for another 20 students in an adjacent write-up room.
Previously, most marine science teaching with potential links to the Portobello facilities had to be undertaken on campus, in central Dunedin.
The new facilities opened up bright prospects for teaching to be undertaken in new ways, and the display tanks would eventually become home to sea creatures not only from the harbour, but also from the Otago coast, and Fiordland, he said.
