Using telemetry to track eels? We recommend surgically implanting the tags!
Ann Arbor, MI — American eel populations in the Great Lakes have decreased alarmingly during recent years. Scientists thus are interested in examining whether manmade structures hinder the migration patterns of these interesting fish. By tagging the eels with a tracking device, their movements can be monitored. However, how to best attach the transmitter tag to the eels first needed to be evaluated.
The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of three attachment methods for the transmitter tags. The tags thus were attached either externally, internally (via surgery) or gastrically (inserted down the throat and into the stomach). Although the attachment methods did not affect the ability of the eels to swim in performance monitored swim tests, surgically implanted tags had the best retention rates. Some of the stomach tags were ejected, and most of the externally attached tags were lost. Therefore we recommend surgically implanting transmitters into American eels, especially for long-term telemetry studies.
Original Publication Information
Results of this study "Evaluation of Three Telemetry Transmitter Attachment Methods for Female Silver-phase American Eels (Anguilla rostrata Lesueur)," are reported by R. Adam Cottrill, Finn Økland, Kim Aarestrup, Niels Jepsen, Anders Koed, Kristopher J. Hunter, Kevin G. Butterworth and R. Scott McKinley in the latest issue (Volume 32, No. 3, pp. 502-511) of the Journal of Great Lakes Research, published by the International Association for Great Lakes Research, 2006.
Contacts
For more information about the study, contact R. Scott McKinley, Centre for Aquaculture and Environmental Research, University of British Columbia, 4160 Marine Drive, West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V7V1N6; mckin@interchange.ubc.ca; (604) 666-1298.
For information about the Journal of Great Lakes Research, contact Marlene Evans, Editor, National Water Research Institute, 11 Innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 3H5, Canada; editor@iaglr.org; (608) 692-1076.
Links
Since 1967, IAGLR has served as the focal point for compiling and disseminating multidisciplinary knowledge on North America's Laurentian Great Lakes and other large lakes of the world and their watersheds. In part, IAGLR communicates this knowledge through publication of the Journal of Great Lakes Research, available to members in print and electronic form. A searchable archive of the journal is available online and includes the abstracts of articles from the journal's inception in 1975 through the most recent issue. In addition, complete articles are available to members who have signed up for an electronic subscription.