Sea lice feeding behavior of wild and hatchery lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus) under hatchery conditions.

• Main Author: Pedersen, Seline Brathaug
• Other Authors: Blanco Gonzalez, Enrique
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: University of Agder 2022
• Subjects: Norway; Atlantic salmon
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3007953

In 2014 Norway contributed 1.2 million tons of the world production of farmed salmon. Norway is the world’s largest producer of farmed salmon, and the species is among the top five species, quantity consumed, in the major seafood markets. Infection by sea lice is the greatest disease challenge currently limiting the production of Atlantic salmon globally. Sea lice are responsible for a wide range of distresses to the fish, from mild skin damage to stress-induced mortality, which can be a tremendous economic burden for the Atlantic farmed industry. Biological control by cleaner fish has become a common approach to delouse salmon. Lumpfish is a cold-water marine fish used as cleaner fish, and salmon cages contain 93%-97% fewer sea lice with lumpfish present than without them. The use of lumpfish as biological control raises ethical concerns for poor welfare and high mortality of the cleaner fish when stocked in sea cages. Good welfare of lumpfish is essential because it affects their ability to delouse salmon, and a higher welfare will have several advantages, including improving delousing efficacy and having economic value as sea lice cause economic losses to the industry. There are few studies on the effectiveness of cleaner fish, and it is essential to characterize the behavior of individuals eating most actively on sea lice so that choosing lumpfish as cleaner fish in the future can be more efficient. The primary aim of this study was to observe feeding behavior of wild and hatchery lumpfish. This was done by comparing number and type of attacks by wild versus hatchery lumpfish to delouse salmon under hatchery conditions. Stomach content from gastric lavage was also used to examine how many lice were eaten by lumpfish. A secondary aim was to evaluate the swimming activity of wild and hatchery lumpfish under two different light conditions; 1) once lights are turned on, and 2) once the lights start dimming. Four swimming activities will be evaluated which are 1) hovering, 2) swimming, 3) attached swimming, and ...