An overview of stress physiology of fish transport: changes in water quality as a function of transport duration

Abstract

This study brings an integrated analysis about the relationship between water deterioration and its physiological consequences in live fish transport. The analysis was focused on the transport water and its deterioration, and physiological challenges imposed on the fish. Usual commercial handling procedures employed to mitigate fish stress during transport were discussed. Future topics of research for the establishment of safer fish transport protocols were proposed. Transport was classified into short (≤8 h) or long transport (>8 h). The main issue in short transports should be the prevention of water pH reduction, while in long transports it is the increase in ammonia. Plasma cortisol is the most employed marker for stress and is acutely elevated upon short episodes of transport, but remains elevated even in long‐transport events. Plasma glucose is perhaps a better marker for handling stress. Plasma lactate, pH, osmolality CO2 and ions should be more often evaluated. Plasma Na+ and Cl‐ are very useful markers of acidosis, due to their respective exchange for H+ and HCO3−, for acid–base regulation. The establishment of species‐specific transport protocols should be preceded by such combined analyses of water and physiological parameters.

Search for the Smoking Gun: Identifying and Addressing the Causes of Postrelease Morbidity and Mortality of Hatchery‐Reared Snake River Sockeye Salmon Smolts

“…Changes in water chemistry can cause stress, morbidity, and mortality in fish (Barton ; Harper and Wolf ). Hardness—or, rather, a rapid change in water hardness—is one of the most influential water chemistry‐related stressors (Sampaio and Freire ). Compared to hard water, soft water is generally low in pH, Ca 2+ , Na + , and Cl − .…”

“…Additional experiments were designed to evaluate whether these water chemistry differences could be responsible for the morbidity and mortality that had been observed. These experiments primarily relied on the aforementioned indicators of physiological stress, but our investigations led us to also measure ions in the blood, which are less‐studied stress markers in fish (reviewed by Sampaio and Freire ). Finally, a range of mitigation strategies was tested in experimental and field evaluations to determine whether any strategy might allow smolts to overcome the physiological insult associated with the transition from Springfield Hatchery's water source to RFLC.…”

Transport of juvenile dusky grouper Epinephelus marginatus under different packing densities: Metabolic and haematological responses

“…The use of high load density is stressing to fish, and at the same time, it is limited by the aggravation of water quality conditions (Gomes, Ara ujo-Lima, Roubach, Chippari-Gomes & Lopes, 2003). Moreover, the type of transport unit, the duration of the transport and species will also influence the load density to be used and stress responses in fish (Sampaio & Freire, 2016).…”

Ethical considerations in fish research

“…Both of these methods will cause physiological changes. During transport, accumulation of carbon dioxide leads to a decrease in water pH (Sampaio & Freire, ). If the duration of transport is long enough for this to occur, buffers can be added to the water to maintain pH such as Tris buffer (Amend et al ., ; Singh et al ., ), pH buffer 8.3 Trizma (Stuart et al ., ), sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate (Correia et al ., ).…”