Effect of anesthetic, tag size, and surgeon experience on postsurgical recovering after implantation of electronic tags in a neotropical fish: Prochilodus lineatus (Valenciennes, 1837) (Characiformes: Prochilodontidae)

João M Lopes,Alessandra G Bedore,Paulo S Pompeu,Carlos B M Alves,Fernanda O Silva

doi:10.1590/1982-0224-20150189

Abstract

ABSTRACT Implantation of telemetry transmitters in fish can be affected by different parameters. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of type of anesthetic, tag size, and surgeon experience on surgical and postsurgical wound healing in the neotropical fish Prochilodus lineatus . In total, eighty fish were surgically implanted with telemetry transmitters and forty fish were kept as controls. Forty fish were implanted with a small tag and other forty were implanted with a large tag. Similarly, forty fish were anesthetized with eugenol and forty fish were anesthetized by electroanesthesia, and forty surgeries were performed by an expert surgeon and forty surgeries were performed by novice surgeons. At the end of the experimental period seventeen (21.3%) tagged fish had postsurgical complications, including death (1.3%), tag expulsion (2.5%), antenna migration (2.5%), and infection (15%). Tag size was the key determinant for postsurgical complications. Surgical details and postsurgical wound healing were not affected by type of anesthetic. Incision size, duration of surgery, and wound area were significantly affected by tag size and surgeon experience, and the number of sutures was significantly affected by tag size only. The results indicate that successful implantation of telemetry transmitters is dependent upon surgeon experience and tag size.

Highlights

IntroductionStudies using acoustic and radio telemetry to evaluate the migratory dynamics of fish are becoming increasingly common around the world (Lucas & Barras, 2000; Block, 2005; Chomyshyn et al, 2011; Cooke et al, 2011a; Thiem et al, 2011; Hockersmith & Beeman, 2012) and in Brazil (Hahn, 2012)
This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the surgical implantation of radio transmitters on postsurgical wound healing in a Neotropical freshwater fish species
Number of sutures, and duration of surgery (10.5 min for large tags vs. 8 min for small tags) were significantly greater in fish implanted with large tags than with small ones

Summary

Introduction

Studies using acoustic and radio telemetry to evaluate the migratory dynamics of fish are becoming increasingly common around the world (Lucas & Barras, 2000; Block, 2005; Chomyshyn et al, 2011; Cooke et al, 2011a; Thiem et al, 2011; Hockersmith & Beeman, 2012) and in Brazil (Hahn, 2012). Telemetry can remotely and precisely transfer information from tagged fish with a radio or acoustic transmitter across spatial and temporal scales to study the behavior of Neotropical freshwater fishes and their relationship with environmental variables (Koehn, 2012). Biotelemetry has a number of advantages over conventional methods used for monitoring freshwater fish in Brazil, especially mark-recapture methods. Mark-recapture methods often rely on external tags that are attached directly to the body surface, whereas intracoelomic implantation of telemetry transmitters is inherently more invasive and involves surgical procedures that may adversely affect the physiology and behavior of tagged individuals (Thoreau & Baras, 1997; Cooke et al, 2011a; Thiem et al, 2011)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion