Voluntary responses and limits of tolerance to pressure reduction and swimbladder expansion in farmed Atlantic cod

Abstract

Atlantic cod and other teleosts with closed swimbladders have slow gas resorption rates and are therefore vulnerable to sudden pressure reductions that lead to swimbladder expansion and possible loss of behavioural control. This problem is of particular relevance to fish farmers, who require safe protocols for lifting of cages containing cod that account for swimbladder expansion. To recommend a limit for pressure reduction, we experimentally determined the maximum pressure reduction, relative to neutral buoyancy pressure, free-swimming farmed cod would expose themselves to. Classical reward conditioning was used to motivate cod that were neutrally buoyant at 2–3.3 ATM (10–23 m depth) to respond to a sound signal by swimming rapidly upwards to a feeding station positioned at 1.5 ATM (5 m depth). Sixteen cod were implanted with data storage tags (DSTs) that registered their ambient pressure throughout the experiment. The DST data showed that cod voluntarily stopped rapid ascents before they reached the feeding station at an average maximum pressure reduction of about 41% relative to their neutral buoyancy pressure. This was equivalent to a 70% swimbladder expansion relative to neutral volume. During the experiment, cod seldom remained above their neutral buoyancy depths, except when feeding, indicating a behavioural aversion to positive buoyancy. To avoid the loss of buoyancy control in cod, we conclude that single lifting events of sea-cages, which forces swimbladder expansion, should never exceed a 70% expansion of the swimbladder above the pre-existing neutral buoyancy volume.