Evaluation of visible implant elastomer tags for tagging juvenile gilthead seabream (Sparus auratus L.); effects on growth, mortality, handling time and tag loss

The use of the fluorescent visible implant elastomer (VIE) tagging system in juvenile gilthead seabream, Sparus auratus L., between 7 and 18 g was examined. Four different colours (red, green, orange and yellow), three body positions (dorsal, lateral and caudal) and two orientations (horizontal and vertical) were tested. The mean tag application time for each fish was 15.7 +/- 0.32 s. There was no mortality associated with the method of tagging. The most visible tag colour was red. Injection orientation had a significant effect on length, width, fragmentation and fluorescent intensity of the tag. Horizontal tagging is recommended because of high fluorescent intensity, low fragmentation and for double tagging. There were no differences in growth between untagged controls and the VIE-tagged fish.