Short-Term Retention Rates of Passive Integrated Transponders Surgically Implanted in Burbot and the Effects on Survival

Abstract

Passive integrated transponder tags are commonly used in fisheries science to individually identify fish in studies that assume high fish survival and tag retention rates, and have recently been used in studies on burbot Lota lota, although information on retention and survival rates is unavailable. Burbot (310–676-mm TL) surgically implanted with 23-mm PIT tags had 93% survival and 100% retention over 60 d; the survival of these burbot was not significantly different from that of a control group. This suggests that this marking method is a viable means of individually identifying burbot for short-term studies.

Received January 21, 2012; accepted July 4, 2012

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to thank the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (agreement 001162) and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (contract 09-FG-40-2906) for funding this project. Additionally, our thanks go to J. Zum Brunnen for statistical assistance, along with R. Keith, C. Amadio, Z. Underwood, W. Stacy, J. Callison, J. Anderson, C. Craft, S. Hoyer, A. Ficke, and R. Ridenour for their assistance. The comments of three anonymous reviewers were greatly appreciated. All procedures on animals were approved by the Colorado State University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (protocol 10-2016A).