EFFECTIVENESS OF BENZOCAINE AS ANESTHETIC AT DIFFERENT WATER TEMPERATURES FOR EARLY JUVENILE CURIMBA (<i>Prochilodus lineatus</i> Valenciennes, 1836), A NEOTROPICAL FISH SPECIES

Anesthetics have been used frequently in aquaculture to minimize stress during handling. However, several factors can affect the efficiency of anesthetics. For example, temperature is one of the abiotic factors that control animal metabolism and consequently, the effect of anesthetics. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of benzocaine as an anesthetic for early juveniles of curimba Prochilodus lineatus at different water temperatures. Juveniles (4.7 ± 1.6 g and total length of 7.4 ± 0.7 cm) were submitted to anesthesia at concentrations of 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80 mg L-1 of benzocaine and temperatures of 22, 25, 28, and 31 °C. The effects were evaluated by measuring the induction time to deep and surgical anesthesia, recovery time, time to appetite return, and 96-h mortality rate. The higher temperatures (25, 28 and 31°C) provided shorter induction times to reach deep anesthesia and at 50 mg L-1 of benzocaine, the induction time was between 2 and 3 min. Juveniles at temperatures of 28 and 31 °C showed lower surgical anesthesia induction time at concentrations ranging from 60 to 80 mg L-1. Recovery time was longer at 22 °C at all concentrations. The time to appetite return occurred in the first 24 h after anesthesia and the 96-h mortality rate was lower than 10%. Under these conditions, for deep anesthesia, benzocaine concentration of 50 mg L-1 for water temperatures of 25, 28, and 31 °C and 60 mg L-1 for 22 °C are recommended. Surgical anesthesia can be performed with 50 mg L-1 of benzocaine at all four water temperatures. The differences documented in the present study underline the need for adequate concentrations of anesthetics depending on the prevalent water temperature for Neotropical fish species. This should be considered in recommendations for large-scale use.