Growth,survival, and tag retention of steelhead trout (<Emphasis Type="Italic">O. mykiss</Emphasis>) surgically implanted with dummy acoustic tags |
| |
Authors: | D W Welch S D Batten B R Ward |
| |
Institution: | (1) Kintama Research Corp., Building 373, Malaspina University-College, 900-5th St., V9R 5S5 Nanaimo, BC, Canada;(2) Pacific Biological Station, Fisheries & Oceans Canada, V9R 5K6 Nanaimo, BC, Canada;(3) British Columbia Fisheries Science Section, University of B.C., 2204 Main Mall, V6T 1Z4 Vancouver, BC, Canada |
| |
Abstract: | Recent advances in micro-electronics make the study of the migration of even small marine animals (>12 cm) over many 1000s
of kilometres a serious possibility. Important assumptions in long-term studies are that rates of tag loss caused by mortality
or tag shedding are low, and that the tagging procedure does not have an unacceptable negative effect on the animal. This
paper reports results from a study to examine the retention of relatively large (24 × 8 mm) surgically-implanted dummy acoustic
tags over a 7-month period in steelhead pre-smolts (O. mykiss), and the effects of implantation on growth and survival. Although there was some influence on growth to week 12, survival
was high for animals > 13 cm FL. In the following 16-week period, growth of surgically implanted pre-smolts was the same as
the control population and there was little tag loss from mortality or shedding. Currently available acoustic tags can be
implanted in salmonid fish ≥12 cm FL, although combined losses from mortality and tag shedding were 33–40% for animals in
the 12 and 13 cm FL size classes. By 14 cm FL, combined rates of tag loss (mortality plus tag shedding) for surgically implanted
tags dropped to <15% and growth following surgery was close to that of the controls. Our results suggest that studies of ocean
migration and survival over periods of many months are now feasible even for animals as small as salmon smolts. Surgically
implanted salmon smolts are therefore good candidates for freshwater and coastal ocean-tracking studies on relatively long
time scales (months). On such time scales, even relatively small salmon smolts may move thousands of kilometers in the ocean. |
| |
Keywords: | Tagging Tag shedding Surgical implantation Growth Survival Telemetry |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|