What is the salinity of the seawater used at UTEX? Where does it come from?

The natural, undiluted seawater used for media preparation at UTEX is collected from the Gulf of Mexico at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas, TX. It is approximately 30-35 ppt (parts per thousand) salinity.  However, at UTEX, we adjust the salinity to 30 ppt for consistency unless otherwise stated in the media recipe.