Simulated trawling: Exhaustive swimming followed by extreme crowding as contributing reasons to variable fillet quality in trawl-caught Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua).

Trawl-caught Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) often yield highly variable fillet quality that may be related to capture stress. To investigate mechanisms involved in causing variable quality, commercial-sized (3.5±0.9 kg) Atlantic cod were swum to exhaustion in a large swim tunnel and subsequently exposed to extreme crowding (736±50 kg m-3) for 0, 1 or 3 hours in an experimental cod-end. The fish were then recuperated for 0, 3 or 6 hours in a net pen prior to slaughter to assess the possibility to reverse the reduced fillet quality. We found that exhaustive swimming and crowding were associated with increased metabolic stress, as indicated by increased plasma cortisol, blood lactate and blood haematocrit levels, accompanied by reduced quality of the fillets due to increased visual redness and lower initial muscle pH. The observed negative effects of exhaustive swimming and crowding were only to a small degree reversed within 6 hours of recuperation. The results from this study suggest that exhaustive swimming followed by extreme crowding can reduce fillet quality, as measured by fillet redness and muscle pH, and contribute to the variable fillet quality seen in trawl-caught Atlantic cod. Recuperation for more than six hours may be required to reverse these effects.

Physiological and behavioural responses to noxious stimuli in the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua).

In the present study, our aim was to compare physiological and behavioural responses to different noxious stimuli to those of a standardized innocuous stimulus, to possibly identify aversive responses indicative of injury detection in a commercially important marine teleost fish, the Atlantic cod. Individual fish were administered with a noxious stimulus to the lip under short-term general anaesthesia (MS-222). The noxious treatments included injection of 0.1% or 2% acetic acid, 0.005% or 0.1% capsaicin, or piercing the lip with a commercial fishing hook. Counts of opercular beat rate (OBR) at 10, 30, 60, 90 and 120 min and observations of behaviour at 30 and 90 min post-treatment were compared with pre-treatment values and with control fish injected with physiological saline, an innocuous stimulus. Circulatory levels of physiological stress indicators were determined in all fish at 120 minutes post-treatment. All treatments evoked temporarily increased OBR that returned to pre-treatment levels at 60 minutes (saline, 0.005% capsaicin, hook), 90 minutes (0.1% acetic acid, 0.1% capsaicin), or 120 minutes (2% acetic acid), but with no significant differences from the control group at any time point. Fish treated with 0.1% and 2% acetic acid and 0.1% capsaicin displayed increased hovering close to the bottom of the aquaria and fish given 2% acetic acid and 0.1% capsaicin also displayed a reduced use of shelter. The only effect seen in hooked fish was brief episodes of lateral head shaking which were not seen pre-treatment or in the other groups, possibly reflecting a resiliency to tissue damage in the mouth area related to the tough nature of the Atlantic cod diet. There were no differences between groups in circulatory stress indicators two hours after treatment. This study provides novel data on behavioural indicators that could be used to assess potentially aversive events in Atlantic cod.

Evoked potentials in the Atlantic cod following putatively innocuous and putatively noxious electrical stimulation: a minimally invasive approach.

Aspects of peripheral and central nociception have previously been studied through recording of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) to putative noxious stimuli in specific brain regions in a few freshwater fish species. In the present study, we describe a novel, minimally invasive method for recording SEPs from the central nervous system of the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). Cutaneous electric stimulation of the tail in 15 fish elicited SEPs at all stimulus intensities (2, 5, 10 and 20 mA) with quantitative properties corresponding to stimulus intensity. In contrast to previous fish studies, the methodological approach used in Atlantic cod in the current study uncovered a number of additional responses that could originate from multiple brain regions. Several of these responses were specific to stimulation at the highest stimulus intensities, possibly representing qualitative differences in central processing between somatosensory and nociceptive stimuli.

Effects of pre-slaughter stress on proteolytic enzyme activities and muscle quality of farmed Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua).

Farmed Atlantic cod were subjected to a combination of stressors in a holding tank before being killed, pre rigor filleted and stored in ice. At slaughter, a higher level of stress was confirmed by blood physiology analyses. This was further associated with significantly reduced muscle pH and somewhat elevated muscle collagenase-like activity in the stressed fish, whereas no differences in cathepsin-like activities were found. After 5 days of iced storage, the stressed fish had significantly lower water holding capacity, reduced hardness and yellowish colour compared to the control group, and no differences in the other parameters investigated. Independent of pre-slaughter stress, the activities of cathepsin B- and B/L-like enzymes increased and activities of cathepsin D/E- and collagenase-like enzymes decreased with storage.

Damage and functional recovery of the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) inner ear hair cells following local injection of gentamicin.

This study addresses the ultrastructural and functional damage and subsequent recovery of the inner ear in the Atlantic cod following intrasaccular gentamicin injection. Inner ear damage was assessed using SEM and measurements of AEP following 250-Hz pure-tone stimuli. Data from gentamicin-treated fish were compared with control (no injection) and sham (injection of saline) fish. Control fish had normal response thresholds associated with well-developed hair cell bundles in their macula sacculi. Sham fish had higher response thresholds compared with control fish during the first week post-intervention, but response thresholds were subsequently normal. Treated fish displayed significant inner ear damage associated with an increased average AEP threshold on the third day following treatment. Thereafter, inner ear tissue displayed signs of progressive regeneration until it was comparable to controls from the 14th day. Response thresholds were similar to those of control fish from the 17th day following treatment. These observations suggest that the macula sacculi of Atlantic cod can regenerate towards a near-complete functional and ultrastructural recovery within 17-21 days following ototoxic gentamicin treatment.

Toxicokinetics and effects of PCBs in Arctic fish: a review of studies on Arctic charr.

In a series of environmentally realistic laboratory experiments, toxicokinetics and effects of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were studied in the Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus). Winter fasting and emaciation, which are common among Arctic charr living in high latitudes, resulted in a redistribution of the lipophilic PCBs from lipid-storing tissue such as the muscle, to vital organs that must be considered sensitive toward PCB (liver and brain). This redistribution was accompanied by a significant potentiation of the hepatic cytochrome P-450 (CYP) 1A biomarker response, from low activities in October (within those measured in uncontaminated charr) to a high, probably maximum, induction in May. Performance studies demonstrated a clear effect of environmentally realistic PCB levels on endocrine mechanisms, immune function, and seawater preadaptation (smoltification) in charr that had been feed deprived for several months after contamination with Aroclor 1254, whereas a high PCB dose exerted only minor, if any, effects in charr that had been fed after contamination. These results demonstrate that emaciation results in decreased dose-response relationships in fish, and indicate that arctic animals undergoing seasonal cycles of "fattening" and emaciation may be extra sensitive toward persistent, lipophilic organochlorines. Pilot studies on Arctic charr from Bjørnøya Island revealed marked CYP1A biomarker responses and an upregulation of genes involved in cellular homeostatic mechanisms in charr from Lake Ellasjøen (high PCB levels).

PCB impairs smoltification and seawater performance in anadromous Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus).

The impacts of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposure on smoltification and subsequent seawater performance were investigated in hatchery-reared, anadromous Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus). The fish were subjected to a 2-month summer seawater residence, after which they were orally dosed with 0 (Control, C), 1 (Low Dose, LD) or 100 mg Aroclor 1254 kg(-1) body mass (High Dose, HD) in November. They were then held in fresh water, without being fed (to mimic their natural overwintering in freshwater), until they had smolted in June the next year. The smolts were then transferred to seawater and fed to mimic their summer feeding residence in seawater, followed by a period without food in freshwater from August until maturation in October. Compared with C and LD charr, the HD charr had either a transient or a permanent reduction in plasma growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor-1, and thyroxin and triiodothyronine titers during the period of smoltification. These hormonal alterations in the HD charr corresponded with impaired hyposmoregulatory ability in May and June, as well as reduced growth rate and survival after transference to seawater. Consequently, fewer fish in the HD group matured in October compared to the other two treatments. The HD fish had a liver PCB concentration ranging between 14 and 42 mg kg(-1) wet mass, whereas there were similar, and very low, liver PCB concentrations in LD and C fish throughout the smolting period. Our findings suggest that PCB might compromise mechanisms important for fitness in a fish species living in an extreme environment.