Save Our Seas Blogs

11 August 2010

AES 2010 – A Whole Shark Stress Symposium!

2010 American Elasmobranch Society Meeting, Providence Rhode Island.

2010 American Elasmobranch Society Meeting, Providence Rhode Island.

The field of elasmobranch stress physiology has grown to such an extent that the subject warranted a special symposia at the 2010 American Elasmobranch Society Meeting held in Providence, Rhode Island.  The stress physiology symposium entitled “The Physiological Stress Response in Elasmobranch Fishes”,  was hosted and run by Dr Greg Skomal, and Dr John Mandelman, and was was kindly sponsored by The Fisheries Conservation Foundation, and the long time supporters of the CEI Shark Research and Conservation Program, the Save Our Seas Foundation.

Edd Brooks presenting on the the 2008 SOSF funded project, "The Physiological Consequences of Longline Capture in the Caribbean Reef Shark (Carcharhinus perezi)."

Edd Brooks presenting on the the 2008 SOSF funded project, "The Physiological Consequences of Longline Capture in the Caribbean Reef Shark (Carcharhinus perezi)."

The Cape Eleuthera Institute was represented by the manager of the Shark Research and Conservation Program, Edd Brooks, who presented the findings of last year’s SOSF funded study into the effects of longline capture on the Caribbean reef shark (Carcharhinus perezi).  This ground breaking study used field based blood chemistry diagnostic equipment to look at the sub lethal effects of capture, combined with new acoustic tracking equipment to correspond the magnitude of the physiological disruption to any variation in post release behaviour.  A copy of the AES presentation can be downloaded here, and the complete findings of the project will be published along with the rest of the presentations from the stress symposium in the Journal of Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology – Part A later this year. (more…)

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2 February 2010

How do you sample an unstressed shark?

A Caribbean reef shark in a mild form of tonic immobility whilst being blood sampled by the CEI shark team.

A Caribbean reef shark in a mild form of tonic immobility whilst being blood sampled by the CEI shark team.

One of the biggest problems facing anyone interested in the physiology fish is how to generate a baseline level of blood chemistry.  What does the blood chemistry of a fish look like if it hasn’t been captured, handled, poked and prodded all in the name of science?  What are the normal levels of lactate, glucose, carbon dioxide etc., to which we can compare our “stressed” samples to?

For small fish this is relatively easy.  Take the recent work on bonefish by the Flats Ecology and Conservation Program here at Cape Eleuthera Institute.  Bonefish were housed in darkened holding chambers with a steady supply of fresh seawater for 36 hours upon which they were rapidly removed and blood sampled before the blood chemistry could change.  However, it is a tricky proposition to try and apply this technique to a 6ft Caribbean reef shark!

(more…)

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