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Influence of Incision Location on Transmitter Loss, Healing, Survival, Growth, and Suture Retention of Juvenile Chinook Salmon
Author(s) -
Panther Jennifer L.,
Brown Richard S.,
Gaulke Greg L.,
Deters Katherine A.,
Woodley Christa M.,
Eppard M. Brad
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1080/00028487.2011.637003
Subject(s) - fibrous joint , chinook wind , barbed suture , surgery , juvenile , dorsum , oncorhynchus , transmitter , anatomy , fish <actinopterygii> , apposition , medicine , biology , fishery , ecology , telecommunications , channel (broadcasting) , computer science
Fisheries research involving surgical implantation of transmitters necessitates the use of methods that minimize transmitter loss and fish mortality and optimize healing of the incision. We evaluated the effects of three incision locations on transmitter loss, healing, survival, growth, and suture retention in juvenile Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha . The three incision locations were (1) on the linea alba (LA incision), (2) adjacent and parallel to the LA (muscle‐cutting [MC] incision), and (3) extending from the LA towards the dorsum at a 45° angle, between the parallel lines of myomeres (muscle‐sparing [MS] incision). A Juvenile Salmon Acoustic Telemetry System acoustic transmitter (0.44 g in air) and a passive integrated transponder tag (0.10 g in air) were implanted into each fish (total N = 936 fish). The fish were held at 12°C or 20°C and were examined weekly for 98 d. The progression of healing among incision locations and the variability in transmitter loss made it difficult to identify one incision location as the best choice. The LA incisions had a much smaller wound extent (area of visible subepidermal tissue) than MC and MS incisions during the first 28 d of the study. In both temperature treatments, apposition of incisions through day 14 was better for LA incisions than for MC and MS incisions. However, MC and MS incisions were less likely than LA incisions to reopen over time and thus were less likely to allow transmitter loss through the incision.