* Use of trade names does not constitute endorsement by the authors or by the U.S. Government *

• Main Authors: Largemouth Bass, Micropterus Salmoides, U. S. Fish, Wildlife Service, James D. Bowker, Daniel Carty, Molly P. Bowman
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2006
• Subjects: Carbonic acid
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.564.2368; http://www.fws.gov/fisheries/aadap/PDF/Publications/LMB AQUIS DRR final_MB.pdf

The use of anesthetics is an important tool with broad application to fisheries management programs. Anesthetics are physical or chemical agents that act on an animal by initially inducing a calming effect and subsequently inducing loss of equilibrium, mobility, consciousness, and reflex action (Summerfelt and Smith 1990). Most often, anesthetics are used to reduce stress associated with the handling or transportation of fish. Anesthetics are widely used both in the culture of captive populations and in field situations that involve the management of wild fish populations. As such, fish anesthetic research has been conducted on many compounds, including carbonic acid (Gelwicks et al. 1998), sodium bicarbonate (Peake 1998), quinaldine, benzocaine, and 2-phenoxyethanol (Gilderhus and Marking 1987; Iwama et al. 1989; Munday and Wilson 1997). Although several of these compounds are effective fish anesthetics, the only products currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use as anesthetics on fish are two 3-aminobenzoic acid ethyl ester methanesulfonate products: (1) FINQUEL®, which is registered by Fort Dodge Laboratories, Fort Dodge, IA, and sold by Argent Chemical Laboratories, Redmond