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

EFFECTS OF LOADING DENSITY ON GOLDEN SHINER SURVIVAL
Philip Pearson*, Brian Small, Rachel Beecham, Todd Sink, Susan LaBarre and Doug Minchew
USDA-Agricultural Research Service
H.K. Dupree Stuttgart National Aquaculture Research Center
P.O. Box 1050
Stuttgart, Arkansas 72160 USA
philip.pearson@ars.usda.gov
We conducted four hauling trips of 6 h each to investigate effects of loading density (120, 180, and 240 g fish/L) on survival of
golden shiners Notemigonus crysoleucas. Commercially graded golden shiners (mean weight 3.3 g ± 0.04 SE) were transported
in insulated hauling tanks filled with fresh well water, chilled with unchlorinated block ice, and aerated with pure oxygen.
Whole-body cortisol analyses were not statistically different for golden shiners transported at 120, 180, or 240 g fish/L. Unionized
ammonia concentration increased with respect to loading density, but had no apparent effect on survival. Results of this
study indicate golden shiners can be successfully (≥ 99 % survival) transported for up to 6 h at 240 g fish/L in well water chilled
with unchlorinated block ice and aerated with pure oxygen.
Table 1. Mean (± SE) hauling survival, survival of 1 kg of fish transferred to tanks and held for 18 h after
hauling, whole body cortisol, total ammonia nitrogen (TAN), and un-ionized ammonia (UIA) of golden
shiners before and after hauling at three loading densities. Different letters within a column indicate
treatment means that were significantly different (P ≤ 0.0001)
Treatment N Survival Survival Cortisol TAN
UIA
(end of
trip)
(18 h post delivery)
(ng/g)
Before Hauling 4 N/A N/A 15.7 ±
120 g of fish/L 8 99.5 ± 0.1 99.9 ± 0.1 15.0 ±
180 g of fish/L
7*
1.6
1.3
99.5 ± 0.1 99.9 ± 0.02 17.5 ±
240 g of fish/L 8 99.4 ± 0.1 99.9 ± 0.02 19.9 ±
2.3
2.1
(mg/L)
(mg/L)
1.68 ± 0.20 z 0.06 ± 0.01 z
5.64 ± 0.30 y 0.10 ± 0.02 y
8.93 ± 0.20 x 0.13 ± 0.01 x
10.66 ± 0.04
w
0.20 ± 0.04
ANOVA P = 0.51 P = 0.46 P = 0.27 P < 0.0001 P < 0.0001
*On day 1 (May 29), one replicate of the 180 g/L treatment had 32% mortality due to a low dissolved
oxygen concentration (0.4 mg/L) attributed to equipment failure. This replicate was not included in the
statistical analysis.
w
395