Stress Response and Blood Characteristics of Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) after Anesthesia with Etomidate

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Continuous anesthesia of channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) with 0.6 mg/L etomidate for 96 h caused a small but statistically significant decrease in plasma protein concentration at all sampling periods. Hemoconcentration, indicated by increased total erythrocyte count, hematocrit, and hemoglobin, resulted from anesthesia with 1–4 mg/L etomidate for 30–180 min. Periodic removal of fish from 400-L troughs stressed other unanesthetized fish in the trough causing significantly increased plasma corticosteroid, glucose, and protein concentrations. Anesthetized fish were not stressed by the periodic sampling. Fish anesthetized with 3 mg/L etomidate and then confined in a net for 10 min had reduced plasma Cortisol response and no significant plasma glucose increase compared with unanesthetized controls. Anesthesia did not prevent hyperchloremia that developed 3 h after the 10-min confinement. No histological changes were found in fish anesthetized with etomidate. Anesthesia with etomidate before netting could be useful when handling fish because of the reduced stress response.

This publication has 15 references indexed in Scilit: