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Anadromous European smelt (Osmerus eperlanus) is a keystone species in lake and river ecosystems. In the past and present, stock declines in several of its habitats have been reported. The reasons for this are unclear. Experimental research on the early life stages could help to reveal the potential causes. For this purpose, knowledge on artificial propagation and rearing of early life stages is needed. Following from previous work, we show how to scale up and mass rear European smelt using conventional hatchery equipment and present a simplified protocol for first feeding. Smelt eggs, after egg adhesiveness is removed, can be incubated in standard hatchery equipment commonly used in aquaculture. Incubation in McDonald-type jars shows even improved results when settling of floating eggs is prevented. Next to avoiding egg loss this simultaneously reduces labor for daily care. First feeding of larval smelt can be achieved with decapsulated artemia cysts, eliminating the need for the labor-intensive green water production. Using the protocol presented, larvae of different stages can be produced in large quantities allowing further experimental studies.

Individual fat reserves are considered a key factor for the reproductive fitness of the endangered European eel (Anguilla anguilla). In contrast with most established standards, microwave measurements enable the determination of fat contents without sacrificing individual fish, offering a broad range of ecological applications. To test the reliability of nonlethal assessment methods of the muscle fat content in eels, the performance of microwave measurements was compared with the prevailing standard of measuring fat in a distinct subsample of muscle tissue by solvent extraction. Results indicate that either method is prone to error due to physiological and morphological changes during the sexual maturation of eels. Since microwave measurements were systematically affected by life stage and body length, it was possible to calibrate the method accordingly, putting it at least on par with the prevailing standard and further facilitating its use for scientific purposes.

Environmental enrichment is used to increase structural complexity of captive rearing systems and has been shown to provoke a wide range of effects in the kept animals. Here we studied the effects of enrichment on DNA methylation patterns at the whole-genome level in the brain of rainbow trout reared in an aquaculture setting. We investigated the epigenetic effects between different types of enrichment (natural substrate vs. artificial substrate vs. barren) in three developmental stages (egg vs. alevin vs. fry) and as enrichment was discontinued at the fingerling stage by means of the Methylation-Sensitive Amplified Polymorphism (MSAP) technique. While enrichment did not affect growth in body size, we found enrichment to affected global DNA methylation in the brain at the egg and alevin stage, i.e., the period during development where the animals are in close physical contact with the substrate. At these stages, trout reared on the two substrates differed more from the control than the substrates differed from each other. Only minor differences between rearing environments were detected following emergence at the fry stage. When enrichment was discontinued during the rearing of fingerlings, no differences in DNA methylation patterns were observed between the rearing environments. Our results provide further evidence on the effects of enrichment in the captive rearing of fish and show that enrichment can even modulate epigenetic patterns. The effect on the epigenome may be causal for the previously reported effects of enrichment on gene expression, behaviour and brain development.

The understanding of swimming physiology and knowledge on the metabolic costs of swimming are important for assessing effects of environmental factors on migratory behavior. Swim tunnels are the most common experimental setups for measuring swimming performance and oxygen uptake rates in fishes; however, few can realistically simulate depth and the changes in hydrostatic pressure that many fishes experience, e.g. during diel vertical migrations. Here, we present a new hyperbaric swimming respirometer (HSR) that can simulate depths of up to 80 m. The system consists of three separate, identical swimming tunnels, each with a volume of 205 L, a control board and a storage tank with water treatment. The swimming chamber of each tunnel has a length of 1.40 m and a diameter of 20 cm. The HSR uses the principle of intermittent-flow respirometry and has here been tested with female European eels (Anguilla anguilla). Various pressure, temperature and flow velocity profiles can be programmed, and the effect on metabolic activity and oxygen consumption can be assessed. Thus, the HSR provides opportunities to study the physiology of fish during swimming in a simulated depth range that corresponds to many inland, coastal and shelf waters.

Thermoregulation in aquatic ectotherms is a complex behavioral pattern that is affected by various biotic and abiotic factors with one being salinity. Especially in coastal and estuarine habitats, altering levels of salinity involve osmoregulatory adjustments that affect total energy budgets and may influence behavioral responses towards temperature. To examine the effect of salinity on behavioral thermoregulation in a marine evertebrate ectotherm, we acclimated juvenile and sub-adult common brown shrimp ( Crangon crangon , L.) to salinities of 10, 20 and 30 PSU and investigated their thermal preference in an annular chamber system using the gravitational method for temperature preference determination. Thermal preference of individual brown shrimp was considerably variable and brown shrimp selected a wide range of temperatures in each level of salinity as well as within individual experimental trials. However, salinity significantly affected thermal preference with the shrimp selecting higher temperatures at 10 and 20 PSU when compared to 30 PSU of salinity. Body size had no effect on thermal selection and did not interact with salinity. Temperature preference differed by sex and male shrimp selected significantly higher temperatures at 10 PSU when compared to females. The results show that salinity strongly affects thermal selection in brown shrimp and confirms the strong interrelation of temperature and salinity on seasonal migratory movements that has been previously derived from observations in the field. In the field, however, it remains unclear whether salinity drives thermal selection or whether changes in temperature modify salinity preference.

The life history of the European eel (Anguilla anguilla, L.) is characterized by a series of metamorphoses and transitions that provoke drastic morphological changes. Most of these changes go along with the catadromous life cycle in eels, involving extensive physiologically adaptations. In this study it was investigated whether these drastic changes have an epigenetic basis by analyzing global methylation patterns in liver, gill and brain tissue from glass eels caught at the British coast as well as yellow and silver eels from River Rhine using methylation-sensitive amplified polymorphisms (MSAP). Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) on MSAP data derived from liver tissue revealed only minor differences in methylation patterns between glass, yellow and silver eels, reflecting uniform functioning of the liver throughout the investigated lifespan. In brain and gill tissue, however, marked differences in methylation patterns were found. Principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) revealed yellow eels being partially clustered with silver eels and a more distinct cluster of glass eels based on the methylation patterns in the brain. According to results found in the gills, glass eels were more similar to silver eels whereas yellow eels were found to be clustered separately. From these results it can be concluded that epigenetic changes in gill tissue most likely reflect and are linked with adaptation towards salt- and freshwater conditions. The observed differences in brain methylation patterns, however, might be linked to morphological and physiological changes during metamorphosis and transitions within the life history of European eels potentially affecting subsequent differential gene expression patterns required for such changes.

Environmental enrichment aims for a deliberate increase in structural complexity in otherwise plain rearing units, helping to reduce aberrant traits and promote welfare of fish kept in captivity. Before putting enrichment protocols into practice, however, practitioners like hatchery managers need clear guidelines on enrichment measures and on the substrates used. In the present study, we used rainbow trout as a model species for salmonid rearing and investigated the use of a single layer of three different gravel types, i.e., small (4–8 mm), medium (8–16 mm) and large (16–32 mm), for environmental enrichment during egg incubation, endogenous and first feeding of rainbow trout and compared this to a barren control. From the egg stage onwards, we determined mortality, fungal prevalence as well as growth of larvae and fingerlings. We found that gravel size significantly affected mortality and fungal prevalence with the smallest gravel size and the control showing the lowest incidents. Growth of larvae and fingerlings was not affected by gravel, both when compared between gravel types and to the barren control. When using gravel for environmental enrichment in salmonid hatcheries, a small gravel size should be used. Small gravel provides the fish with a more natural environment without compromising practical feasibility of enrichment in hatcheries, still allowing for easy visual inspection and manual control of the reared fish.

Ectothermic organisms rely on behavioral thermoregulation to modulate their body temperature and the final thermal preferendum (FTP) paradigm (FTPP) postulates that a given species holds a species-specific FTP. The FTPP, however, has been challenged by a considerable amount of recent findings on vertebrate ectotherms, indicating that the FTP is not as static as originally postulated but can be modulated by various factors. In contrast to vertebrates, evidence from invertebrate ectotherms is far more limited. To test for the validity of the FTPP and to study whether behavioral thermoregulation in a marine invertebrate varies seasonally, thermal preferenda of the common brown shrimp (Crangon crangon, L.) were determined through a 14 month period. Thermal preferenda of males and females of different size groups were measured in an annular chamber system (4–25 °C) using the gravitational method for thermal preference testing. The results revealed that brown shrimp behaviorally selected a wide range of temperatures and did not show a single or constant thermal preferendum. Thermal preference was modulated following a seasonal pattern suggesting the existence of distinct seasonal preference zones rather than a species-specific preference temperature. Brown shrimp selected low temperatures during winter, however, a difference of 5 °C in preferred temperature was observed between a cold and a relatively mild one. Highest thermal preferenda did not coincide with field water temperatures but were observed after field water temperatures exceeded the annual temperature peak. Besides season, body size of brown shrimp significantly affected thermal selection and small individuals selected higher temperatures compared to large ones. A significant interaction of body size and water temperature at which the shrimp were caught was detected. The study further provides evidence that cohort identity as well as female reproductive state may affect thermal preference as well. The results of the study reveal that thermal selection in brown shrimp is complex, not static and that preference temperature can be modulated by various factors, representing the first evidence for a marine invertebrate ectotherm.

The brown shrimp (Crangon crangon) is a highly abundant invertebrate in the North Sea with its life cycle spanning deeper offshore spawning and shallow onshore nursery areas. To overcome the long distances between these two habitats, brown shrimp are suspected to use selective tidal stream transport (STST) moving with the cyclic tide currents towards their preferred water depths. However, it is not known which stimulus actually triggers STST behavior in brown shrimp. In this work, we determined the influence of different hyperbaric pressures on STST behavior of juvenile brown shrimp. Brown shrimp's activity was recorded in a hyperbaric pressure chamber that supplied constant and dynamic pressure conditions simulating different depths with and without a tidal cycle. Subsequent Wavelet and Fourier analysis were performed to determine the periodicity in the activity data. The results of the experiments show that STST behavior in brown shrimp varies with pressure and therefore with depth. We further show that STST behavior can be initiated by cyclic pressure changes. However, an interaction with one or more other environmental triggers remains possible. Furthermore a security ebb-tide activity was identified that may serve to avoid potential stranding in shallow waters and is “remembered” by shrimp for about 1.5 days without contact to tidal triggers.