Fish Behaviour: Determinants and Implications for Welfare

Huntingford, Felicity A.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-41675-1_4

Cited by 7 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 137 publications

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“…Conversely, there may be little advantage in providing physical enrichment for pelagic species or life-stages; instead, these fish would benefit more from occupational enrichment under the form of currents, or sensory enrichment such as wall/substrate colour patterns. This nature-based approach towards EE departs from the assumption that domestication in fish is very recent, 4,5,302,303 and therefore, farmed fish species have essentially the same fundamental needs as their wild counterparts. The biology of fish in the wild is also highly informative on their welfare state because farmers can, for example, compare the behaviour observed in their systems with the known behaviours in the natural environment and use those comparisons as indicators of welfare.…”

Section: Environmental Enrichment At Farms: G U Ideline S and Cons Id...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, determining group preferences or, at least, which characteristics are preferred or avoided by the majority can help to better plan and implement EE strategies for farmed fish. This determination of fish needs and wants may be best achieved by an ethological approach: by addressing the causes and functions of behaviour (known as Tinbergen's 4 questions 301 ), fish farmers can identify EE opportunities with the best probability of resulting in relevant improvements for their animals 302 . For example, benthic species should benefit from substrate enrichment, which should nevertheless be appropriate for the life‐stage in size and type.…”

Section: Environmental Enrichment At Farms: Guidelines and Considerat...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environmental enrichment in fish aquaculture: A review of fundamental and practical aspects

Arechavala-López

Cabrera-Álvarez

Maia

et al. 2021

Reviews in Aquaculture

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Environmental enrichment (EE) can improve the welfare of captive fish. Its objective is to provide new sensorial and motor stimulation in order to help meet their behavioural, physiological, morphological and psychological needs, whilst reducing stress and frequency of abnormal behaviours. In fish farms, rearing environments are usually designed from a human perspective and based on economic requirements, mainly for practical reasons for the farmer, with little consideration for animal welfare. Throughout aquaculture production cycles, many farming operations can be stressful for fish, and EE may not only help them cope with these stressful events but also improve their overall welfare. In recent years, increasing interest on the effects of EE in captive fish has focussed mainly on structural enrichment. However, there are many other enrichment strategies that merit attention (e.g. sensorial, occupational, social and dietary enrichment) and which may be of interest for fish farming. Here, we review in depth the existing literature on EE and its effects on the welfare of a wide range of farmed fish species, discussing the feasibility and potential applications of different EE strategies to promote fish welfare at a commercial scale. We also present a practical framework to address the design, validation and implementation of EE by the aquaculture industry, taking in consideration the technical challenges of providing enrichment for farmed fish.

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Section: Environmental Enrichment At Farms: G U Ideline S and Cons Id...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Environmental Enrichment At Farms: Guidelines and Considerat...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental enrichment in fish aquaculture: A review of fundamental and practical aspects

Arechavala-López

Cabrera-Álvarez

Maia

et al. 2021

Reviews in Aquaculture

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“…According to Huntingford et al (2020), EE can transmit emotions and reveal perceptions and events from the external environment, improving biological functions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral Thermoregulation in Captive Fish: Molecular, Physiological, and Welfare Implications

Sanhueza,

Fuentes,

Aguilar

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Environmental Enrichment (EE) serves as a cornerstone in the attempt to emulate natural habitats for captive organisms. While substantial strides have been made in this field, current methodologies still grapple with discrepancies between recreated habitats and the innate conditions vital for maintaining biological homeostasis in captive species. Our study highlights the pivotal role of behavioral thermoregulation in modulating molecular and physiological outcomes in captive fish. Collective evidence suggests that enabling fish to autonomously regulate temperature confers numerous beneficial cellular and systemic effects. Specifically, introducing a thermal gradient within the EE paradigm correlated with increased survival metrics, enhanced physiological parameters, and improved welfare indices, establishing the criticality of thermoregulation in captivity. In contrast, the lack of a thermoregulatory framework resulted in the emergence of transient free radicals, a clear marker of temperature-induced oxidative stress. Persistent disruptions in free radical equilibrium, especially in uniform temperature settings, were linked to DNA damage, heightened cellular apoptosis, tissue anomalies, and metabolic deviations. In conclusion, this research underscores the significance of behavioral thermoregulation as an integral feature of EE, especially related to fish in controlled environments. Our data present key biomarkers valuable for optimizing fish welfare and highlight the necessity for sustained research into their adaptability and survival benchmarks. Such insights aim to enhance EE protocols, fortifying their efficacy in mirroring natural habitats and, in turn, advancing the welfare benchmarks of captive organisms.

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“…It is clear that the threshold for when a stressor shifts from inhibitory to one that warrants proactive responses like aggression is individual in nature [ 54 , 65 ]. The aquaculture industry is attempting to accommodate for variation in personality and behavior and the resulting individual welfare needs by, for example, developing and using demand feeding devices [ 66 , 67 , 68 ]. While these have had varying levels of success with regard to improving welfare, with that success dependent on multiple parameters including density, social organization, genetics, individual learning ability, and boldness [ 69 ], future efforts like these are integral to providing conditions conducive to good welfare for the variety of individuals in each population.…”

Section: Fishes Are Individuals: Implications For Welfare In An Aquac...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Looking beyond the Shoal: Fish Welfare as an Individual Attribute

Torgerson-White¹,

Sánchez-Suárez

2022

Animals

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Welfare is an individual attribute. In general, providing captive nonhuman animals with conditions conducive to good welfare is an idea more easily applied when dealing with few individuals. However, this becomes much harder—if not impossible—under farming conditions that may imply high numbers of animals living in large group sizes. Although this is a problem inherent to intensive animal farming, it is possibly best exemplified in fish farming, for these practices often rely on extremely high numbers. In this paper we review evidence supporting the notion that fishes are individuals and fish welfare should thus also be considered at the individual level, examine the current state of welfare assessment in the aquaculture industry, evaluate these practices in light of individualized terrestrial animal welfare assessment methods, and make recommendations regarding research that could lead to a better understanding of how to provide each individual fish with good welfare in captivity.

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Fish Behaviour: Determinants and Implications for Welfare

Cited by 7 publications

References 137 publications

Environmental enrichment in fish aquaculture: A review of fundamental and practical aspects

Environmental enrichment in fish aquaculture: A review of fundamental and practical aspects

Behavioral Thermoregulation in Captive Fish: Molecular, Physiological, and Welfare Implications

Looking beyond the Shoal: Fish Welfare as an Individual Attribute

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