Abstract
The present study investigated the application of hypothermic anesthesia to the transportation of live fish without seawater. Piezoelectric elements were used to measure the frequency of gill respiratory movements in Paralichthys olivaceus maintained in seawater from +10 to -1.5℃ in order to determine which temperature was associated with the lowest resting metabolic. The frequency of gill movements decreased as the temperature decreased, until approximately 0-2℃ when gill movements increased, indicating an increase in metabolic activity. Additional experiments conducted on fish maintained outside sea water at +1, +5 and +10℃ revealed that survival was lowest at +1℃ and highest at +5℃, at which temperature some individuals survived for 27 h. The present findings suggest that the application of hypothermic anesthesia to the transportation of live fish without sea water should be performed using holding temperatures that are slightly above the lowest resting metabolic of the species being transported as this will increase the overall survival times of the fish during transit.
