International Journal of Aquaculture, 2018, Vol.8, No.17, 127-136
127
Research Article Open Access
Comparative Efficacies of Clove Oil, Tricaine Methanesulfonate and
2-Phenoxyethanol as Anesthetic for Juveniles and Adults
Mugil cephalus
and
Sparus aurata
N.M. Abou Shabana , M. Absawey
National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Aquaculture Division, Fish Spawning Lab, Alexandria, Egypt
Corresponding author Email
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2018, Vol.8, No.17 doi
Received: 31 May, 2018
Accepted: 02 Jul., 2018
Published: 27 Jul., 2018
Copyright © 2018
Abou Shabana and Absawey, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Abou Shabana N.M., and Absawey M., 2018, Comparative efficacies of clove oil, tricaine methanesulfonate and 2-phenoxyethanol as anesthetic for juveniles
and adults
Mugil cephalus
and
Sparus aurata
, International Journal of Aquaculture, 8(17): 127-136 (doi
Abstract
The efficacies of three types of anesthetics clove oil, Tricaine methanesulfonate (MS-222) and 2-Phenoxyethanol were
examined to evaluate the response of
Mugil cephalus
and
Sparus aurata
juveniles and adults for a short period sedation. The main
objective of the current study is to determine the optimal dose for short time fish handling in selected species. The concentrations of
clove oil were (5, 10, 15 mL
-1
for juvenile) and (15, 20, 25 mL
-1
for adults), MS-222 concentrations were (50, 75, 100 mL
-1
for
juvenile) and (100, 125, 150 mL
-1
for adults) and 2-Phenoxyethanol concentrations were (200, 250, 300 mL
-1
for juvenile) and (300,
350, 400 mL
-1
for adults).The examined anesthetics were used at constant environmental conditions and temperature (22 ±1°C). The
time of induction was recorded for each fish when fish lost total equilibrium, its opercular movement rate was reduced and fish did
not respond to pressure on its body (S). Also, the time of recovery was recorded when fish started swimming in a normal manner (R).
The current results revealed that the response of both species to anesthetics was different. Variation in fish species showed significant
differences in time durations for sedation and recovery responding to the examined anesthetics for adults and juveniles. In conclusion,
clove oil was the most effective anesthetic for juveniles and adults
M. cephalus
and
S. aurata
handling in addition to its low price.
Keywords
Anesthetics; Sedation; Recovery;
Mugil cephalus
;
Sparus aurata
; Juveniles; Adults; Clove oil; MS-222;
2-Phenoxyethanol
Background
There are many occasions in fisheries and aquaculture requiring some form of sedation or calming of fish in order
to facilitate their handling without harming or stressing them markedly (Summerfelt and Smith, 1990; Ross and
Ross, 1999). Stress caused by handling and transport of fish can result in immune suppression, physical injuries or
even death. Anesthesia is required for several applications such as measuring or weighing fish, sorting and tagging,
administration of vaccines, live transport, sampling for blood or gonadal biopsies and collection of gametes
(Mylonas et al., 2005). Many chemicals are used as anesthetics to immobilize fishes to avoid this stress through
adequate manipulation (Marking and Meyer, 1985; Gilderhus and Marking, 1987; Summerfelt and Smith, 1990).
An ideal anesthetic should induce anesthesia rapidly with minimum hyperactivity or stress. It should be easy to
administrate and should maintain the animal in the chosen state (Shawn et al., 2004).
A number of different anesthetics have been used for aquaculture applications. Tricaine methanesulfonate
(MS-222), Benzocaine, Quinaldine, 2-Phenoxyethanol, Metomidate, Eugenol and Etomidate are widely used
drugs for inhalation anaesthesia (Weyl et al., 1996; Ross and Ross, 1999; Jasna et al., 2005; Mylonas et al., 2005).
Clove oil has been reported and recommended strongly as an anesthetic (Anderson et al., 1997; Keene et al., 1998;
Waterstrat, 1999). Eugenol is the main component in clove oil (70-90%) which is obtained by distillation of the
flowers, stems and leaves of the clove tree (
Eugenia aromatica
or
caryophyllata
) (Filiciotto et al., 2012). In
addition to its worldwide use as a food flavoring, it has also been employed for centuries as a topical analgesic in
dentistry (Curtis, 1990; Soto and Burhanuddin, 1995) and its major advantage is that it is inexpensive in
comparison to others. However using clove oil in high concentrations may lead to the decrease of neurosensory
function, respiratory failure, medullary collapse and eventually death (Schreck and Moyle, 1990). Clove oil
concentrations above 0.05 mL per 500 mL of water increase considerably the mortality rates and are only suitable
