Extending the 2% rule: the effects of heavy internal tags on stress physiology, swimming performance, and growth in brook trout

Animal Biotelemetry

Michael G Smircich²  John T Kelly¹ 

[1] Department of Biology and Environmental Science, University of New Haven, West Haven, CT, USA

[2] Current Address: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

关键词: Acoustic tagging;    Biotelemetry;    Tag retention;   

Others  :  1082148
DOI  :  10.1186/2050-3385-2-16

 received in 2014-07-09, accepted in 2014-10-04,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

The use of internal telemetry has greatly advanced fisheries research in the past two decades, permitting researchers to observe movements and distributions of organisms in their natural environment. For many years, the prevailing opinion has been that internal tags should not weigh more than 2% of the dry body weight of a fish. Some studies indicate that tags weighing up to 12% dry body weight do not have a negative effect on swimming performance, but few authors have examined impacts to fish physiology and health. This study investigated how tags greater than 2% body mass affected the mortality, tag retention, swimming performance, and physiological indicators of stress in brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis Mitchill).

Results

No mortality was observed between treatment groups, but tag retention was lowest in the heavy tag treatment group in which 80% (12 fish) lost tags. Swimming performance and physiological indices of stress were not significantly impacted by tag mass. Fish tagged with heavy tags showed slower growth in the 3 weeks after tagging, but growth rates appeared to recover by the end of the study, although this result may be confounded by tag loss.

Conclusion

The results of this study suggest that for brook trout, the 2% rule is a highly conservative guideline that can be substantially extended but should not exceed 7% body weight due to concerns about tag retention.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Smircich and Kelly; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

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