External Attachment of Acoustic Tags to Deepwater Reef Fishes: an Alternate Approach When Internal Implantation Affects Experimental Design

AbstractImplanting internal acoustic tags is often a preferred method for tracking fish; however, this procedure can present issues with respect to surgical incision that affect experimental design. This is particularly the case when testing for the effects of barotrauma, where the incision for an internal tag would inadvertently “vent” the fish, precluding an “unvented” or control treatment. The rise of barotrauma experimentation has increased the need for methods facilitating this design. Here, we develop and test a novel technique to externally attach acoustic tags, without causing the release of gasses from the fish's body cavity. In addition, this method does not require anesthetics, thereby allowing researchers to eliminate artifacts associated with sedation when trying to more accurately replicate “real-world” fishery conditions. We used accelerometer/depth tags to provide information on how long an externally tagged fish would retain its tag in situ. Changes in acceleration or changes in depth wer...

[1]  Red Snapper in the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. South Atlantic: Data, Doubt, and Debate , 2011 .

[2]  S. Szedlmayer,et al.  Long-Term Residence of Red Snapper on Artificial Reefs in the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico , 2005 .

[3]  C. Lowe,et al.  Use of an acceleration data logger to measure diel activity patterns in captive whitetip reef sharks, Triaenodon obesus , 2007 .

[4]  Ultrasonic Telemetry of Red Snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, at Artificial Reef Sites in the Northeast Gulf of Mexico , 1997 .

[5]  Sandra L. Diamond,et al.  Venting or Rapid Recompression Increase Survival and Improve Recovery of Red Snapper with Barotrauma , 2014 .

[6]  B. J. Gallaway,et al.  A Life History Review for Red Snapper in the Gulf of Mexico with an Evaluation of the Importance of Offshore Petroleum Platforms and Other Artificial Reefs , 2009 .

[7]  Craig A. Harms,et al.  Surgery in Fish Research: Common Procedures and Postoperative Care , 2005, Lab Animal.

[8]  J. Rummer.  Factors Affecting Catch and Release (CAR) Mortality in Fish: Insight into CAR Mortality in Red Snapper and the Influence of Catastrophic Decompression , 2007 .

[9]  B. Efron.  Logistic Regression, Survival Analysis, and the Kaplan-Meier Curve , 1988 .

[10]  C. J. Bridger,et al.  The Effects of Biotelemetry Transmitter Presence and Attachment Procedures on Fish Physiology and Behavior , 2003 .

[11]  F. Coleman,et al.  Evaluation of multiple factors involved in release motality of undersized red grouper, gag, red snapper and vermillion snapper. , 2002 .

[12]  John F. Walter,et al.  Release mortality in the red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) fishery: a meta-analysis of 3 decades of research , 2014 .

[13]  M. Fabrizio,et al.  Long-term effects and recovery from surgical implantation of dummy transmitters in two marine fishes , 2007 .

[14]  A. Thesis.  THE FIDELITY OF RED SNAPPER (LUTJANUS CAMPECHANUS) TO PETROLEUM PLATFORMS AND ARTIFICIAL REEFS IN THE NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO , 2004 .

[15]  Matthew D. Campbell,et al.  Linking “Sink or Swim” Indicators to Delayed Mortality in Red Snapper by Using a Condition Index , 2009 .

[16]  J. H. Cowan,et al.  Indirect estimation of Red Snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) and Oray Triggerfish (Balistes capriscus) release mortality , 2002 .

[17]  R. Brill,et al.  Effects of rapid decompression and exposure to bright light on visual function in black rockfish (Sebastes melanops)and Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) , 2008 .

[18]  G. N. Wagner,et al.  Training, Experience, and Opinions of Researchers Who Use Surgical Techniques to Implant Telemetry Devices into Fish , 2004 .

[19]  Darin T. Topping.  The Use of Ultrasonic Telemetry to Estimate Residency, Movement Patterns, and Mortality of Red Snapper, Lutjanus campechanus , 2009 .

[20]  Robert W. Hannah,et al.  Escaping the Surface: The Effect of Capture Depth on Submergence Success of Surface-Released Pacific Rockfish , 2008 .

[21]  Franziska Broell,et al.  Accelerometer tags: detecting and identifying activities in fish and the effect of sampling frequency , 2013, Journal of Experimental Biology.

[22]  M. Peabody.  The fidelity of red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) to petroleum platforms and artificial reefs in the northern Gulf of Mexico , 2004 .

[23]  G. Wilde.  Does Venting Promote Survival of Released Fish , 2009 .

[24]  E. Kaplan,et al.  Nonparametric Estimation from Incomplete Observations , 1958 .

[25]  Matthew D. Campbell,et al.  Relating angling-dependent fish impairment to immediate release mortality of red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) , 2010 .

[26]  W. Bennett,et al.  Physiological effects of swim bladder overexpansion and catastrophic decompression on red snapper , 2005 .

[27]  M. L. Renaud,et al.  Field Experiments on Survival Rates of Caged and Released Red Snapper , 1994 .

[28]  E. Baras,et al.  Evaluation of surgery procedures for implanting telemetry transmitters into the body cavity of tilapia Oreochromis aureus , 1997 .