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.

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suggests that shale gas might be used as a bridging fuel to cap China's carbon emissions (Nature 512, 115; 2014). Extraction and development problems could make this difficult. The greenhouse-gas footprint of shale gas is much bigger than that of coal. Shale gas emits less carbon dioxide than coal or oil when burnt, but the methane produced during the extraction process has a global-warming Climate models: sunk by humans?

Pomacentridae is a common family in the aquarium fish trade. Most species are harvested from nature. Here we evaluate the following water parameters in the pomacentrid sergeant major, Abudefdufsaxatilis (Linnaeus, 1758), to assess their stress level during a 24, 48, and 72 hours transport: dissolved oxygen (DO), total ammonia, and pH. In addition, we evaluated the following physiological parameters: plasma osmolality, muscle water content, blood glucose, and the enzyme activities of the branchial carbonic anhydrase (CA), the hepatic glutathione S-transferase (GST), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD). The mortality of fish measuring >6 cm total length was 22%, while no mortality was observed for fish measuring <6 cm. The pH of the water was significantly correlated with fish mortality, especially for the initial 24 hours of transport. Hypoxia after 24–48 hours also led to fish mortality, but build up ammonia was not a problem even after 72 hours. We suggest that a minimum water volume of 125 ml/g fish is necessary for safe and cost-effective transport of the sergeant major, preferably with <6 cm in total length.

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