February 15-18, 2009 Washington State Convention Center Seattle ...

102
THE ANESTHETIC EFFECT OF TRICAINE METHANSULFONATE ON PERSIAN
STURGEON LARVAE (Acipenser persicus)
Bahram Falahatkar*, Nesa Heshmat Solati, Sobhan Ranaye Akhavan and Samaneh Poursaeid,
Fisheries Department
University of Guilan, Faculty of Natural Resources
Sowmeh Sara
P.O. Box 1144
Guilan, Iran
falahatkar@guilan.ac.ir
Anesthesia is generally defined as a state caused by an applied external agent resulting in a loss of sensation against external
and internal stimulants inhibition of reflex activity, and reduced skeletal muscle tone through depression of the nervous system.
Anesthesia plays an important role in both fisheries research and aquaculture, being used to reduce stress in fish for high
density, catching, transportation etc to delicate handling operation. However, inappropriate using of anesthetics could cause
to deleterious effects. Tricaine (3 aminobenzoic acid ethyl ester methanesulfonate or MS 222 ) has been shown to be useful for
anesthetizing larval fish. The objective of this study was to evaluate the best dose, anesthetic and recovery time in Persian
sturgeon larvae.
For determining the best dose of anesthetic, different concentrations of tricaine methanesulfonate including 0, 25, 50, 75, 100,
150, 200 mg/L with three replicates were compared on Persian sturgeon (Acipenser persicus) larvae. Thus, 10 larvas with mean
total length and body weight 3.63 ± 0.54 cm and 241.06 ± 7.01 mg, respectively, were put on 100 mL of MS 222 solution. Afterward,
recovery was done by means of putting of fish into 200 mL clean water. Dissolved oxygen and temperature were 7.11 ±
1.4 mg/L and 20.26 ± 0.05, respectively.
Based on the results of mortality rate, duration of anesthesia, recovery time, reaction to the anesthetic, it is recommended that
the concentration of 75 mg/L is the best dose for anesthesia in Persian sturgeon larvae. These results showed that MS 222 is an
effective anesthetic material for this unique species.