P-171
Effects of Shocking and Tagging of Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in a Natural and Artificial Environment
By Jacob Bowman, Jill Leonard
Shocking and tagging are two common fish sampling techniques used by fisheries biologists. The physical effects of these techniques on fish have been studied extensively, but behavioral effects are less understood. Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were shocked and tagged in the Little Garlic River in Marquette County MI, while in the laboratory brook trout were either shocked and tagged, tagged, or left unmarked in an artificial stream. In each setting fish were viewed with a GoPro camera and recordings were examined for feeding, tail beat frequency and aggressive interactions. In the lab, fish that were not shocked or tagged displayed higher dominance and accounted for 63% of all feeding attempts compared to 2% for shocked and tagged fish. In the Little Garlic, tagged trout showed a mean of 1.35 tailbeat sec-1 greater tailbeat frequency than unmarked fish at the same time post-handling. This study suggests that shocking and tagging can alter behavior and should be taken into consideration when sampling fish, especially during short term behavioral studies.