Gw. Davidson et al., The effect of tagging on the swimming performance of rainbow trout as a surrogate for kahawai Arripis trutta, T AM FISH S, 128(5), 1999, pp. 971-973
Previous studies indicated that dart tags affect the migration pattern of k
ahawai (Australian salmon). Because kahawai cannot be held in experimental
swim tunnels, we used rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss as a surrogate spec
ies of similar physiology to test the effects of visible implant tags and d
art tags on swimming performance. The critical swimming velocity (U-crit) o
f untagged rainbow trout, 2.93 +/- 0.12 (SE) body length/s, was unaffected
by either tag type. Our findings suggest that altered migration of dart-tag
ged kahawai is not due to an acute tag-induced reduction in swimming perfor
mance.