Fish Colleagues,

    My grad student, Bill Pine, and I are having difficulty with a
fish tagging problem and seek experience and assistance.  We are
experimenting with tagging riverine flathead catfish (Pylodictis
olivaris) with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags, uniquely
coded for mark-recapture studies.  We have several criteria that we'd
like to meet in finding the most appropriate tag location on the fish.

1. The tag must be retained in small (ca. 10 cm) and large fish (over 1 m).

2. Implanted tags should not be consumed by an angler that might
harvest and eat the fish.

We have tried

a. implanting tags in the muscle on the head, just posterior to the
eye and sealing the opening with super glue -- this works well for
larger fish, over 20 cm, but is not retained in smaller fish;

b. implanting tags in the body cavity of small fish -- they are not
retained well and sometimes form a nasty wound; and

c. implanting tags in the muscle posterior to the dorsal fin or
posterior to the anal fin -- these are retained, but there is a
slight chance that some one eating this fish could ingest the tag.

Any experiences, ideas, or suggestions shared will be appreciated.
Reply to me directly, please.  Thanks.

Tom Kwak
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Tom Kwak     ([log in to unmask])
NC Cooperative Research Unit
Box 7617, NC State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7617, USA
919/513-2696
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~tkwak
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