Capture, transport and husbandry of Naucrates ductor
Francisco
D.
Mauricio1, 2*,
Tiago
J.
Marçal1, 2,
João
P.
Correia1, 2,
Telmo
Morato1, 2,
Rui
Guedes1, 2 and
Nelson
Campino1, 2
-
1
Flying Sharks, Portugal
-
2
GIRM – Marine Resources Research Group - School of Tourism and Maritime Technology - Polytechnic Institute of Leiria., Portugal
This is a report on the capture, transport, and husbandry of Naucrates ductor, also known as pilot fish. Approximately 100 individuals were collected by Flying Sharks in the sequence of an order from multiple public aquaria. Because there is vely limited knowledge about the capture, husbandry and transport of this species, it became necessary to investigate how to achieve this while causing minimum mortality and ensuring animal welfare. Collection was done in the Azores Islands, approximately 20 nautical miles from Horta, using a standard fishing rod and hook, after attracting blue sharks with bait. The animals were transported to shore inside plastic vats and introduced to large 2,0 m wide holding tanks at the Porto Pim Aquarium, where they were held for 2 months. Multiple treatments for wounds, and parasite control, were used and are reported. Transport to mainland Portugal was done aboard a commercial vessel, inside 2,4 m wide polyethylene vats with mechanical and chemical filtration consisting of cartridge filters and protein skimmers, respectively. Once docked on shore the 40 ft. container was then moved to a truck, where it traveled to Spain and France over 6 days. The total transport time of those animals delivered last was therefore 11 days and no mortalities were sustained in transit. The remaining animals were kept in Peniche for 2 more months inside 2,4 m wide polyethylene vats, with filtration consisting of cartridge and protein skimmers, as well as daily water changes.
Multiple challenges faced during the collection, holding and transport processes are presented in this presentation.
Keywords:
Naucrates ductor,
transportation of Naucrates ductor,
capture of Naucrates ductor,
husbandry of Naucrates ductor,
biodiversity conservation,
Pilot Fish
Conference:
IMMR | International Meeting on Marine Research 2014, Peniche, Portugal, 10 Jul - 11 Jul, 2014.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
BIODIVERSITY, CONSERVATION AND COASTAL MANAGEMENT
Citation:
Mauricio
FD,
Marçal
TJ,
Correia
JP,
Morato
T,
Guedes
R and
Campino
N
(2014). Capture, transport and husbandry of Naucrates ductor.
Front. Mar. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
IMMR | International Meeting on Marine Research 2014.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2014.02.00032
Copyright:
The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers.
They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters.
The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated.
Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed.
For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions.
Received:
01 May 2014;
Published Online:
18 Jul 2014.
*
Correspondence:
Mr. Francisco D Mauricio, Flying Sharks, Lisboa, 1900-272, Portugal, francisco@flyingsharks.eu