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NEWPORT, Ore. - Witnessing an Oregon State University veterinarian fit a rockfish with a contact lens was enough to lure crocodile hunter Steve Irwin from his Australian homeland to film the process for Irwin's latest television show, "New Breed Vets."

The procedure, which only takes about 20 minutes from start to finish, was just quirky enough to grab Irwin's attention, said Timothy Miller-Morgan, an OSU Extension Service aquatic veterinarian.

The episode, titled "False Eye," is set to air on Nov. 10 at 10 p.m. on Animal Planet. Information about Miller-Morgan and the case is available on the Animal Planet Web site at: http://animal.discovery.com/fansites/newbreedvets/bios/millermorgan/millermorgan.html.

The program is focused on innovations that schools such as OSU are bringing to the world of veterinary science, said Howard Gelberg, the Lois Bates Acheson Dean of OSU's College of Veterinary Medicine. Irwin will be traveling the world seeking vets using cutting-edge techniques that are making history in veterinary science.

Famous for his trademark exclamation "crikey" and whirlwind screen antics, Irwin is actually much less animated when the cameras aren't rolling, Miller-Morgan said. "You'd see a 'switch flip' within him when the camera came on. There was only one 'crikey.'

"We chatted quite a bit about the procedures, what we were doing and why. I thought he was a lot quieter off-camera, a lot more low-key, but I will say that throughout it all he showed a genuine interest in the animals and he showed a real interest in what we were doing."

While fitting a contact lens to a rockfish may seem like vanity run wild, the procedure actually is done to preserve the animal's eye, Miller-Morgan, based at OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Center, said.

The veterinarian explained that the staff at Oregon Coast Aquarium had noticed a boccaccio had developed an eye ulcer. Left untreated, the ulcer can degenerate, eventually destroying the eye. To help the wound heal, Miller-Morgan treats the wound and then to protect the eye while it heals, he fits a contact lens over the area.

"What I use the lens for is as a bandage, when a fish has an ulcer on its eye. First we get to work cleaning the ulcer up and then use surgical superglue to attach the lens to the eye. The glue keeps the lens on the eye for about three or four days and then the glue dissolves and the contact lens falls off. It's the same glue they use for human wounds."

The lenses are excess lenses obtained from local eye clinics.

"What I've done is to contact local optometrists, and they are happy to save lenses for me," Miller-Morgan said.

While the glue and lens probably give the fish some cloudy vision in one eye for a few days, that's a small price to pay for the improvement when the wound heals.

"I do probably four of these procedures a year. They heal very well, especially if we catch it early. Large eye ulcers are very common in all public aquariums," the OSU vet said.

In addition to saving the boccaccio's sight, Irwin also witnessed a procedure pioneered by Miller-Morgan and the Oregon Coast Aquarium staff - disease control among leafy sea dragons.

"Leafy sea dragons are very difficult animals to keep healthy, no matter what facility keeps them," he said. "Infections are a real problem."

While many researchers adopted the attitude that the sea dragons are too fragile to submit to much handling, Miller-Morgan and the aquarium staff decided that a hands-on policy might save the animal's lives.

"What we decided was to put them on a regular treatment protocol to prevent infections. Once a month we put antibiotics into ground-up food and then insert a feeding tube into the esophagus to administer drugs to kill protozoans," he said. "It has worked very well. And the animals seem to take handling very well. We catch them, tube them and then let them go and then they immediately start hunting again as if nothing had happened."

Irwin wound up his visit checking out the treatment of a long-nosed skate that has been hospitalized for about a year with a very deep ulcer on its back, as well as severely eroded fins.

The skate has done very well and just about ready to be released from the hospital tank, Miller-Morgan said.

The OSU veterinarian does a great deal of work in cooperation with the Oregon Coast Aquarium, and Steve Brown, who operates an established Newport private practice - Animal Medical Care.

"There's a very strong relationship between Animal Medical Care, Steve Brown, the Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon Coast Aquarium and OSU," Miller-Morgan said. "There's a great deal of very valuable collaboration, as well very strong friendships among all the parties and that benefits all the institutions, and perhaps even more importantly, it benefits our patients."