Survival and serum biochemical responses of spotted sea bassLateolabrax maculatusduring simulated waterless live transportation

Abstract

Waterless live fish transportation is an alternative and promising transport strategy, which may reduce shipping costs, increase stocking density and improve survival of some species. Spotted sea bass is one of the most economically important marine fish in China. However, waterless transportation has not yet been studied on spotted sea bass. To explore the possibility of waterless transportation of spotted sea bass and its sublethal stress responses, the survival rate and dynamics of blood biochemical parameters were evaluated in the present study by preserving it under no water, less water and water (control) conditions for 9 hr. The serum biochemical parameters including total protein, cortisol, glucose, lactate, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), total carbon dioxide (TCO2), creatinine, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), ammonia, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and malonaldehyde (MDA) were investigated. Results showed that the survival rates of fish in all groups gradually declined with time increasing. At the end of transportation, the survival rates in the control group, less-water group and no-water group decreased to 49.11%, 15.60% and 23.96% respectively. Significant changes were observed in several selected serum biochemical parameters, including glucose, lactate, ALT, TCO2, BUN and ammonia during simulated waterless transportation, which might negatively affect the physiological homeostasis of fish, leading to the high mortality in present study. In general, waterless transportation of spotted sea bass was possible, but it might be rather suitable for short time than long time.