The use of the anesthetic metomidate hydrochloride as an aid in open water capture of young-of-the-year rockfish

Houk, James L. and Hardwick, James E. and VenTresca, David (1992) The use of the anesthetic metomidate hydrochloride as an aid in open water capture of young-of-the-year rockfish. Monterey, CA, California Department of Fish and Game, Marine Resources Division, (Marine Resources Administrative Report, 92-1)

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Abstract

Many species of young-of-the-year (YOY) rockfish, Sebastes sp. move inshore into shallow reef areas in central California each year. We monitored the dates of arrival, relative abundance, species composition, lengths, and growth rates of these arrivals to help assess recruitment variability and stock success. We tested the usefulness of the anesthetic metomidate hydrochloride as a non-lethal method to collect YOY rockfish to assess growth, abundance, and species composition. Earlier experiments by other researchers illustrated the usefulness of metomidate to collect benthic-oriented adult rockfish. Our research tested the possibility of using metomidate hydrochloride to collect open-water and benthic-oriented YOY rockfish. The anesthetic was applied and the fish captured by divers. Several concentrations of metomidate were tested, premixed both in fresh and salt water. The anesthetic was not very useful in collecting open water YOY rockfish as the fish rapidly left the area of application and avoided being anesthetized. Increasing the concentration of metomidate did not increase success of capture of open-water YOY rockfish. However, the anesthetic metomidate worked very well in capturing benthic-oriented YOY rockfishes. (22pp.)

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