Short-term retention rates of passive integrated transponders surgically implanted in burbot and the effects on survival

Abstract

Passive integrated transponder tags are commonly used in fisheries science to individually identify fish in studies that assume high fish survival and tag retention rates, and have recently been used in studies on burbot Lota lota, although information on retention and survival rates is unavailable. Burbot (310-676-mm TL) surgically implanted with 23-mm PIT tags had 93% survival and 100% retention over 60 d; the survival of these burbot was not significantly different from that of a control group. This suggests that this marking method is a viable means of individually identifying burbot for short-term studies. © American Fisheries Society 2012.