Unit 2 - Collection of Blood
Puncturing the Caudal Peduncle

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This is a method which can be used to repeatedly to take blood samples from larger fish (generally more than 10 cm long).

From 0.5 to 1 ml of blood can be drawn from fish of 200g every week without causing high mortalities or serius debilitation.

Render the fish unconscious in an anaesthetic solution.

Definitions

ANAESTHETIC: In the case of fish, chemicals used to relax and facilitate handling, surgery and spawning procedures. Commonly used agents include tricane methane sulfonate (MS-222), benzocaine and quinaldine which are widely used in handling freshwater fish. Ethylenglycol-monophenylether is an anaesthetic agent more suitable for marine fish species. It is usually administered by immersing fish in a bath solution blood.