Abstract
The only anesthetic registered in North America for use in fisheries science is 3-aminobenzoic acid ethyl ester methanesulfate (tricaine or MS-222). Although MS-222 is a very effective anesthesia for several fish species, its application in the field is limited because U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines demand a 21-d withdrawal period after exposure to MS-222 before fish can be released and enter the food chain. As a consequence, carbon dioxide (CO2) has been used as a substitute anesthetic; however, induction and recovery times with CO2 are long, and anesthesia is shallow in comparison with MS-222. We compared the efficacy of MS-222 to that of clove oil, a naturally occurring substance, for use as an anesthetic for juvenile and adult rainbow trout Onchorhynchus mykiss. Clove oil was as effective as MS-222 in inducing anesthesia in both age-groups. Furthermore, exposure to either clove oil or MS-222 at the concentrations tested was not detrimental to critical swimming speed of juvenile or adult rainbow trout. We propose that clove oil be considered as an alternative to MS-222 for use as a fish anesthetic.