Re: NANFA-L-- cold euthanasia

Peter Unmack (peter.lists-in-)
Tue, 29 Aug 2006 16:45:07 -0500 (CDT)

> Hmmm... Yes, that does sound unpleasant for the fish. The difference
> here is that Dave's suggesting you put the fish in the freezer with some
> ambient-temperature water. The water's going to slowly cool and take
> the fish's metabolism down with it -- so by the time they get to
> freezing, they're almost completely dormant.

I have a better idea perhaps for home euthanasia. One thing that I
noticed was very quick and effective was dropping them into hot water.
One time when collecting fish in Australia I was sampling in some really
muddy water, so I got some clear water from the tap (the water comes from
wells and tends to be pretty warm) and dropped the fish in it before
sorting them for preservation. Within about 4 seconds they were dead!
And the water was only 45oC, which isn't really that hot. So, make them
like a lobster and drop them into really hot water and I'll bet they won't
even twitch!

One the sillier side, my old advisor was once asked by an animal ethics
whether it mattered if a fish hit liquid nitrogen tail first or head
first in terms of the pain they sufferred... That stuff is only -196oC!

Cheers
Peter
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