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Animals
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Fish Welfare in Research and Fish Farming
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Fish Welfare in Research and Fish Farming

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Aquatic Animals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2022) | Viewed by 20474

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Constanze Pietsch

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Guest Editor
Hochschule für Agrar-, Forst- und Lebensmittelwissenschaften (HAFL), Applied University Berne (BFH), 3052 Zollikofen, Switzerland
Interests: fish; brain; stress; neuroendocrine
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Aquaculture is a globally growing industry in which innovations are being made at many levels. In addition, an increasing number of fish is being used for scientific experiments. While technical progress has been made in fish husbandry, our understanding of the biology of the fish themselves has not advanced at the same rate. To date, little attention has been payed to the well-being of fish in husbandry. An animal experiences good welfare if its behavioural and physiological abilities to cope with stressors are not overused. The complexity of factors that influence the well-being of individual animals means that revealing clear causal relationships is an enormous task. Furthermore, the environmental requirements of fish vary tremendously between species, strains and individuals. Consequently, assessing fish welfare using environmental parameters requires the identification of a relevant set of environmental and biological variables for each individual species or even population.

Improved welfare of fish in aquaculture leads to better feed conversion and growth of the animals, higher immunocompetence, less diseases, and finally less mortalities in fish farming. Despite these obvious advantages, research on welfare of farmed fish is still lagging and has to be increased considerably in the next few years. But fish are not only used for farming purposes. Research on zebrafish and some additional fish species is increasingly important in order to test the mode of action of future pharmaceuticals or to understand fundamental cellular processes in vertebrates. However, the fact that good welfare of experimental fish also results in better study results and limits the number of animals that have to be used for animal experiments to an absolute minimum is still not widely respected. Future research is needed to provide broader proofs of these concepts and the advantage of good fish welfare in many respects.

Dr. Constanze Pietsch
Guest Editor

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • fish welfare
  • health
  • behaviour
  • aquaculture

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 3383 KiB  
Article
Preference and Motivation Tests for Body Tactile Stimulation in Fish
by Ana Carolina dos Santos Gauy, Marcela Cesar Bolognesi, Guilherme Delgado Martins and Eliane Gonçalves-de-Freitas
Animals 2021, 11(7), 2042; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11072042 - 8 Jul 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5082
Abstract
We tested whether territorial fish (Nile tilapia) perceive body tactile stimulation as a positive or negative resource. Individual male fish were placed for eight days in an aquarium containing a rectangular PVC frame, which was filled with vertical plastic sticks sided with silicone [...] Read more.
We tested whether territorial fish (Nile tilapia) perceive body tactile stimulation as a positive or negative resource. Individual male fish were placed for eight days in an aquarium containing a rectangular PVC frame, which was filled with vertical plastic sticks sided with silicone bristles in the middle of the tank. Fish passing this device received a tactile stimulus. The fish then underwent a preference test by choosing between areas half-with and half-without tactile bristles. Then, fish were submitted to a motivation test where they had to pass an aversive stimulus (bright light) to access the device. Fish were, then, paired to settle social rank, which occurs by way of fights (social stressor), and were assigned again to preference and motivation tests. A group without social stress was used as a control. Contrary to our expectations, fish preferred the area without tactile bristles, although subordinate fish reached tactile stimulation more than the dominant one. Social stress did not affect the preference and motivation, suggesting that fish do not perceive tactile stimulation as a stressor reliever. However, as fish did not avoid the stimulation, reached the device spontaneously, and faced an aversive stimulus to access it, we conclude that tactile stimulation is not a negative condition and, therefore, can be used in further studies regarding fish welfare. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fish Welfare in Research and Fish Farming)
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14 pages, 875 KiB  
Article
Determination of Optimal Doses and Minimum Effective Concentrations of Tricaine Methanesulfonate, 2-Phenoxyethanol and Eugenol for Laboratory Managements in Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)
by Tirawat Rairat, Yu Chi, Chia-Yu Hsieh, Yi-Kai Liu, Niti Chuchird and Chi-Chung Chou
Animals 2021, 11(6), 1521; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11061521 - 24 May 2021
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3640
Abstract
Anesthetic agents are often used in fish experiments to reduce the stress and struggle and to improve animal welfare. The present study aimed to determine the optimal doses and serum minimum effective concentration (MEC) of tricaine methanesulfonate (MS-222), 2-phenoxyethanol (2-PE), and eugenol (EUG) [...] Read more.
Anesthetic agents are often used in fish experiments to reduce the stress and struggle and to improve animal welfare. The present study aimed to determine the optimal doses and serum minimum effective concentration (MEC) of tricaine methanesulfonate (MS-222), 2-phenoxyethanol (2-PE), and eugenol (EUG) in Nile tilapia. Twenty-one fish were immersed in three different doses of each anesthetic and the minimal dose that produce stage III anesthesia within 5 min, maintain anesthesia status for 3 min, and recover within 5 min was considered the optimal dose. The serum concentrations of anesthetics immediately after the fish reached stage III anesthesia was defined as the MEC. The results revealed that the anesthetics dose-dependently shorten the induction time while the effect of doses on the recovery times were variable. The determined optimal doses for MS-222, 2-PE, and EUG were 300, 900, and 90 ppm, respectively. The MECs were 70, 263, and 53 µg/mL, respectively, about two to four times lower than the optimal doses and were independent of the doses. After immersion stopped, the serum concentrations decreased by >90% within the first hour and >99% after 4 h. Our research provides useful information for a smooth fish handling and design for researches requiring stage III anesthesia. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fish Welfare in Research and Fish Farming)
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16 pages, 1975 KiB  
Communication
Distress Regulates Different Pathways in the Brain of Common Carp: A Preliminary Study
by Alexander Burren and Constanze Pietsch
Animals 2021, 11(2), 585; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020585 - 23 Feb 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2907
Abstract
In this study, a stress trial was conducted with common carp, one of the most important species in aquaculture worldwide, to identify relevant gene regulation pathways in different areas of the brain. Acute distress due to exposure to air significantly activated the expression [...] Read more.
In this study, a stress trial was conducted with common carp, one of the most important species in aquaculture worldwide, to identify relevant gene regulation pathways in different areas of the brain. Acute distress due to exposure to air significantly activated the expression of the immediate early gene c-fos in the telencephalon. In addition, evidence for regulation of the two corticotropin-releasing factor (crf) genes in relation to their binding protein (corticotropin-releasing hormone-binding protein, crh-bp) is presented in this preliminary study. Inferences on the effects of due to exposure to air were obtained by using point estimation, which allows the prediction of a single value. This constitutes the best description to date of the previously generally unknown effects of stress in different brain regions in carp. Furthermore, principal component analyses were performed to reveal possible regulation patterns in the different regions of the fish brain. In conclusion, these preliminary studies on gene regulation in the carp brain that has been influenced by exposure to a stressor reveal that a number of genes may be successfully used as markers for exposure to unfavourable conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fish Welfare in Research and Fish Farming)
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13 pages, 1550 KiB  
Article
Effect of Tank Size on Zebrafish Behavior and Physiology
by Abudusaimaiti · Maierdiyali, Lin Wang, Yunchao Luo and Zhongqiu Li
Animals 2020, 10(12), 2353; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10122353 - 9 Dec 2020
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3928
Abstract
Environmental conditions strongly affect experimental animals. As a model organism, zebrafish has become important in life science studies. However, the potential effect of living environment on their behavior and physiology is often overlooked. This work aimed to determine whether tank size affects zebrafish [...] Read more.
Environmental conditions strongly affect experimental animals. As a model organism, zebrafish has become important in life science studies. However, the potential effect of living environment on their behavior and physiology is often overlooked. This work aimed to determine whether tank size affects zebrafish behavior and physiology. Tests on shelter leaving, shelter seeking, shoaling, stamina, and pepsin and cortisol levels were conducted. Results showed that zebrafish behavior is easily affected by changes on the tank size. Fish that lived in small tanks behaved less boldly, had poor stamina, and spent much time on movement. Sex differences in behavior were only evident in the shelter seeking tests. Tank size had no effect on pepsin and cortisol, but cortisol concentrations in males were lower than those in females. This study suggests that zebrafish behavior is easily influenced by their living environment, and future related studies should consider their living space. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fish Welfare in Research and Fish Farming)
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Other

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15 pages, 659 KiB  
Commentary
Estimating Discard Mortality in Commercial Fisheries without Fish Dying: A 3R Challenge
by Niels Madsen, Rasmus Ern and Aage Kristian Olsen Alstrup
Animals 2022, 12(6), 782; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12060782 - 19 Mar 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2448
Abstract
Globally, it is estimated that around 10% of the fish that are caught are discarded. This is considered to be a wasteful human marine activity since these fish are often dead or dying. To reduce the high discard rates of commercial fisheries, the [...] Read more.
Globally, it is estimated that around 10% of the fish that are caught are discarded. This is considered to be a wasteful human marine activity since these fish are often dead or dying. To reduce the high discard rates of commercial fisheries, the European Union (E.U.) has enacted a landing obligation that includes the ability to exempt “species for which scientific evidence demonstrates high survival rates”. Therefore, discard survival studies (henceforth DSSs) have become one of the most politically prioritized fisheries research areas in European fisheries. International expert groups have produced guidance reports to promote best practices and to harmonize the methodologies. Nevertheless, there has not been any focus on how to implement animal welfare (AW) regulations experimentally. Discard survival studies are “frontrunners” in fisheries science research areas that are embedded by animal research welfare requirements and are expected to be more restrictive in the future because of an increased public focus on fish welfare. This paper focuses on AW regulations in relation to conducting DSSs, but the outreach is much broader. We investigate experimental procedures by bringing in relevant examples, using output results, and relating this information to relevant AW guidelines and regulations by focusing on implementing 3R principles. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fish Welfare in Research and Fish Farming)
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