AN IMPROVED GASTRIC LAVAGE DEVICE FOR REMOVING STOMACH CONTENTS FROM LIVE FISH

An improved gastric lavage apparatus was developed to remove stomach c ontents of live fish. A polypropylene pipette and polyethylene tubing were connected to a compression sprayer by quick-disconnect fittings. This enabled the operator to choose different sizes of pipettes depend ing on the size of the fish being sampled. Water was flushed into the stomach of the fish forcing the stomach contents out through the esoph agus. Stomach contents were deposited in a measuring trough and collec ted on fine screening. The apparatus is inexpensive to construct and i s effective in removing all of the stomach contents from fish, while c ausing no mortality. It is portable and contains no breakable parts, m aking it well suited for field work.