Evaluation of bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) to measure condition and energy allocated to reproduction in marine fishes

Abstract

Reliable estimates of fish energy density at specific times prior to spawning may provide suitable proxies for egg production, and thereby help to explain some of the observed annual variation in recruits per spawner. Our goal is to develop and test modifications of BIA technology to measure energy allocation to reproduction for a variety of marine fishes. To date, a newly developed measuring board and probe system stabilized readings, which was demonstrated by a significant reduction in the coefficients of variation for impedance measures. Total body water, wet and dry weights could be predicted with very good precision (r2 = 0.92–0.99) using BIA measures of reactance or resistance for a number of finfish species. While constituent relationships (e.g. body water- body mass functions) did not differ seasonally, we did find that BIA measures are sensitive to body composition changes related to the seasonal spawning cycle. In an examination of monthly samples of tilefish, phase angle decreased below 15° in post-spawning (regressed) females. Such a monthly trend, which suggests available energy had decreased following the spawning season, was not evident from other, more traditional measures of condition including body-muscle water content, Fulton's K or ordinal measures of fat deposition (such as mesenteric fat). These preliminary results show that BIA technology is a promising application for tracking and efficiently predicting energetic condition of marine fishes.