Surgical implantation of electronic tags does not induce medium-term effect: insights from growth and stress physiological profile in two marine fish species.

Background: Telemetry applied to aquatic organisms has recently developed greatly. Physiological sensors have been increasingly used as tools for fish welfare monitoring. However, for the technology to be used as a reliable welfare indicator, it is important that the tagging procedure does not disrupt fish physiology, behaviour and performance. In this communication, we share our medium-term data on stress physiological profile and growth performance after surgical tag implantation in two important marine fish species for European aquaculture, the sea bream (Sparus aurata) and the European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax). Results: Blood samples after surgical tag implantation (46 days for the sea bream and 95 days for the sea bass) revealed no differences between tagged and untagged fish in cortisol, glucose and lactate levels, suggesting that the tag implantation does not induce prolonged stress in these species. Moreover, the specific growth rates were similar in the tagged and untagged fish of both species. Conclusion: Surgical tag implantation does not have medium-term consequences for the stress physiology and growth performance of these two marine fish species in a controlled environment. These observations support the use of accelerometer tags as valuable tools for welfare monitoring in aquaculture conditions. This study also shows that tagged fish can be sampled during experiments and considered a representative portion of the population, as they display growth and physiological parameters comparable to those of untagged fish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Animal Biotelemetry is the property of BioMed Central and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)