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Retention of Oxytetracycline‐Induced Marks on Sagittae of Red Drum
Author(s) -
Jenkins Wallace E.,
Denson Michael R.,
Bridgham Charles B.,
Collins Mark R.,
Smith Theodore I. J.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
north american journal of fisheries management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.587
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1548-8675
pISSN - 0275-5947
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8675(2002)022<0590:rooimo>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - juvenile , oxytetracycline , fishery , fish <actinopterygii> , zoology , biology , trout , drum , ecology , microbiology and biotechnology , antibiotics , mechanical engineering , engineering
In a pilot‐scale stocking program, juvenile red drum S ciaenops ocellatus were immersed for 4 h in a 500‐mg/L active solution of oxytetracycline hydrochloride (OTC) and 15‐g/L salinity water at a temperature of 26.2°C to mark the otoliths before release. A portion of the treated fish was retained to determine marking success and mark retention. Retained fish were held in outdoor tanks supplied with flow‐through estuarine water from Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, and fed commercial trout diets daily. During a 4.4‐year period, subsamples of treated fish were regularly sacrificed, and their sagittae were removed, sectioned, and examined under an epifluorescent microscope to validate presence of a mark. Because of interference from autofluorescence, OTC marks were not detectable on sagittae from fish sampled 56 d after immersion ( N = 4). However, a mark was visible on 100% of sagittae examined from treated fish sampled on nine occasions from 73 to 1,618 d after immersion ( N = 46). In a blind test, both marked and unmarked (wild) otoliths were assigned to their respective category with 100% accuracy. Thus, OTC immersion can be used to provide an accurate, long‐term means of marking juvenile red drum.