Effects of tag and suture type on survival and growth of brown trout with surgically implanted telemetry tags in the wild

Abstract

To test the effects of surgical implants with or without external antennae, 188 wild brown trout Salmo trutta, 150-290 mm, were tagged and released in a small river in May 2005. After 5 months, 103 of the fish were recaptured and examined. Thus, information on the relative survival, growth and general condition of each fish was obtained. The relative survival did not differ between the three groups (control, antennae and no antennae), but the specific growth of the two tagged groups were lower than that of the control fish. The tag:body-mass ratio had a significant negative effect on specific growth. A relative high occurrence of tag expulsion was observed in both treatment groups (23%). The probability to expel a tag was correlated with the tag:body-mass ratio. Finally, the relative survival, growth, expulsion rate and general condition were compared between fish tagged with different types of suture material (absorbable v. nonabsorbable). The results show only minor differences, but absorbable suture provided better wound healing and fewer expulsions.

Effects of surgically implanted dummy ultrasonic transmitters on growth, survival and transmitter retention of bighead carp Hypophthalmichthys nobilis

“…This is similar to a brown trout study that showed that dummy radio transmitters caused negative effects on growth, but the decrease in growth had no negative effects on the survival of brown trout (Jepsen et al 2008). It is difficult to predict whether the bighead carp would die in a longterm study, however our results showed that the bighead carp could survive at least 56 days after surgically implanted with transmitters.…”

Long-term effects of surgically implanted telemetry tags on the nutritional physiology and condition of wild freshwater fish

“…Comparatively little is known about the longerterm consequences of intraperitoneal telemetry transmitters (Tyus 1988), with a deficit of research conducted on unrestrained wild fish. The few longer-term field studies that have been published tended to focus on transmitter retention and fish growth and survival (Jepsen & Aarestrup 1999, Jepsen 2003, Jepsen et al 2008. Such field-based validation studies are critical, as laboratory studies may not reflect the challenges (e.g.…”

Estimating incision healing rate for surgically implanted acoustic transmitters from recaptured fish

“…Most studies evaluating surgical wounds have occurred via holding studies in a laboratory or mesocosms in the field [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18], and a dearth of information exists for rates of healing and suture shedding from free-ranging fishes in the wild (but see [9,19]). Generally, this lack of information stems from a low probability of investigators encountering fish after release to examine surgical incisions.…”