Effects of addition of a bird repellent to fish diets on their growth and bioaccumulation

Authors

Sheenan Harpaz, Department of Aquaculture, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, IsraelFollow
Larry Clark, USDA/APHIS/WS National Wildlife Research CenterFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

January 2006

Comments

Published in Aquaculture Research 37 (2006), pp. 132-138.

Abstract

The effects of adding the nonlethal bird repellent methyl anthranilate (MA), at levels of 100 and 1000 mg/kg, to fish feed on the bioaccumulation and growth of juvenile (10 g) hybrid striped bass (Morone chrysops x M. saxatilis) and juvenile (1g) African cichlid fish Aulonocara jacobfreibergi were investigated under laboratory conditions. The bird repellent did not have any effect on the fish growth or survival over a period of 6 weeks. MA residues at low levels of 11.2 ± 2.6 mg/g were found in lipophili tissues (liver) of MA-fed fish. Control fish, which had no MA added to their diet, had a much lower level of 0.6 ± 0.3 mg/g MA in their liver. Fish muscle was found to contain negligible MA residues, while the outer body surface mucus did not contain any MA. Following a 6-week depuration period, during which the previously MA-fed hybrid striped bass were fed a feed to which no MA was added, the levels of MA residues detected were reduced by one order of magnitude.