7709

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7709
• Author: Kynard, B. and E. Lonsdale
• Title: Experimental Study of Galvanonarcosis for Rainbow Trout ‎(Salmo gairdneri)‎ Immobilization
• USFW Year: 1975
• USFW - Doc Type: Journal of the Fishery Research of Canada
• Copyright Material: YES

302 J. FISH. RES. BOARD CAN., VOL. 32(2), 1975
TABLE 1. Effect of galvanonarcosis immobilization
on rainbow trout (Saimo gairdneri) growth. Sample
size is in parentheses. NS =non significant.
Treatment Experimental Control
time (h) X wt (g) X wt (g) t-value
Feb. 26, 27
l 33.0 (15) 33.8 (15) .17 NS
2 33.8 (15) 31.1 (14) .57 NS
4 30.2 (15) 34.3 (15) 1.07 NS
6 34.6 (14) 30.5 (15) 1.07 NS
Mar. 2.3
2 40.1 (15) 34.8 (7) 1.0 NS
4 36.9 (15) 40.3 (14) .75 NS
6 38.7 (13) 40.7 (7) .87 NS
Galvanonarcosis had no effect on the photo-
negative response of rainbow trout. The initial
takeoff direction of all control and narcotized fish
was the same -they were photonegative. Control
and experimental fish also did not differ in their
strong photonegative response during the 15-min
habitat preference period (1-h experiment, X?ci)
_ .17; 3-h experiment Xz~i) = 1.6).
While under the influence of narcosis, fish ex-
perienced adecrease in ventilation rate (number
of opercular beats/min) as counted by eye. For
a random sample of five fish immobilized for 2
and 4 h and their controls, the ventilation rates
were:
Control fish Experimental fish
% decrease % decrease
2 h 22.1 44.8
4 h 17.6 51.6
This decrease in ventilation rate might allow the
immobilization of large numbers of fish under
crowded conditions that have a low level of dis-
solved oxygen.
Our data indicate that galvanonarcosis has
promise as an immobilization technique in fish-
eries. It> has already been used successfully for
tagging adult Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, in
England (Hartley 1967) . Narcotized fish in our
experiments were easily handled and could have
been tagged, finclipped, measured, etc. Rainbow
trout that were narcotized for up to 2 h recovered
quickly and suffered no deleterious effects that
could be detected in this study. Besides the favor-
able indications from our experiments, the dollar
costs of immobilizing fish with electricity should
be quite competitive with the widely used chemi-
cal anesthetics.
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