Currently it is considered acceptable to hold dolphin, orca, beluga and other cetaceans in captivity for human entertainment. Clearly among the most emotionally and socially complex of all creatures, there is an urgent need to recognize and acknowledge the sentience of these beings. Moreover to rewrite global protocols and accepted norms in order to drive a systematic and comprehensive phasing out of this archaic, cruel practice. Cetaceans are to this day still being taken from the wild, with devastating consequences for those captured and family members left behind, in order to fulfill demand for hotels, waterparks and other facilities around the world. We must discuss and become the catalyst for an end to this.

When artificial reproduction of European catfish have difficulties with the release of sperm in males due to the large amount of urine with sperm. Therefore, in fish farming, the slaughter of male catfish is carried out. Some other types of fish for this purpose carry out a laparotomy. In this work, we studied developed surgical methods of in vivo resection of the gonads of the male catfish. General anesthesia was performed by immersion in a container of clove oil in the dose of 0.04 ml/ l. a small incision (5-8 cm) ensures minimal injury. Octagonal seams are applied to the peritoneum and skin. This creates additional anastomoses to hold and fix the internal organs. The possible catheterization of the bladder of male catfish. This invention is designed to solve several problems. This will keep alive the male catfish producers, which will prevent a decrease in the number of males and a violation of the gene balance of the population and will allow to obtain high-quality sexual products of catfish without the usual impurities of urine. And also to avoid the slaughter of male fish or surgery.

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) occurrence is worldwide increasing because of water eutrophication, aquaculture, maritime transport, global climate change, among other factors. Shellfish that filter feed on harmful phytoplankton accumulate and metabolize marine toxins in their digestive glands and edible tissues constituting a primary vector for their transfer to humans. Therefore, HABs represent a potential threat for Public Health and aquaculture activities that can result in economic losses totalling hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Here, the development of receptor binding assays inspired in the high affinity of cyclic imine toxins towards nicotinic acetylcholine receptors will be discussed.¹ Indeed, cyclic imine toxins are potent antagonists of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors.² Although highly lethal to mice, cyclic imine toxins are not regulated since no human fatalities are associated with them. However, the risk of long-term exposure to sub lethal doses of cyclic imine toxins is of concern given their capacity to cross the digestive and blood-brain barrier in animal models and their nanomolar to picomolar affinities for human neuronal nAChRs in vitro. Receptor-Toxin assays are an alternative to antibody ELISA-based methods that advantageously allow the detection of a series of toxin families directed against the same receptor target. Microplate-receptor binding assay is a high throughput method for rapid detection of cyclic imine toxins directly in shellfish extracts with minimal sample handling, high sensitivity and reduced matrix effect. NeuroTorp is a lateral flow early-warning test for detection of cyclic imine toxins in the field by end-users. Receptor-based methods also allow toxin capture/release for their identification by mass spectrometry.³

Smart Aquaponics is an Interreg project (France, Wallonia & Flanders) aiming at promoting aquaponics among local communities and the corporate sector. Three digital tools will be proposed through an application (smartphone and PC):  a training program, a decision support tool and a monitoring tool. The training program will be composed of a serious game and several theoretical modules. The game will allow the user to handle virtual aquaponics systems with different levels of complexity and experiment an extensive range of events occurring in real aquaponics systems. The target groups are technical secondary schools, colleges, universities and local communities. The decision support tool will allow users to compose virtual aquaponics systems and perform simulations. These simulations will estimate the yield, efficiency and stability of the systems and, finally allow fine-tuning the designs. The monitoring tool will monitor the status of the different component of an aquaponics system in order to (i) anticipate potential problems (ii) maintain the parameters in an optimal range. The monitoring is based on connected sensors (pH, t°, nitrogen) and will be compatible with small and semiprofessional systems. These tools will be based on a model that predicts the evolution of different parameters (oxygen, nitrogen, and plant and fish growth) of the component of an aquaponics system. The specific nature of this model lies in its ability to model aquaponics systems of different sizes and designs. Moreover, the model will be improved by the data provided by the user of the monitoring tool.

The parasite Ichthyophthirius multifiliis infecting skin, fins and gills of a wide range of freshwater fish species, including rainbow trout, is known to induce a protective immune response in the host. Although a number of studies have reported activation of several immune genes in infected fish host, the immune response picture is still considered incomplete. In order to address this issue, a comparative transcriptomic analysis was performed on infected versus uninfected rainbow trout gills and it showed that a total of 3,352 (7.2%) out of 46,585 identified gene sequences were significantly regulated after parasite infection. Of differentially expressed gene sequences, 1,796 genes were up-regulated and 1,556 genes were down-regulated. A total of 268 (6.86%) regulated gene sequences were known to take part in 16 immune-related pathways. These involved pathways related to the innate immunity such as the Chemokine signaling pathway, Platelet activation, Toll-like receptor signaling pathway, NOD-like receptor signaling pathway, and Leukocyte transendothelial migration. Elevated transcription of genes encoding the TLR 8 gene and chemokines (CCL4, CCL19, CCL28, CXCL8, CXCL11, CXCL13, and CXCL14) was recorded indicating their roles in recognition of I. multifiliis and subsequent induction of the inflammatory response, respectively. A number of upregulated genes in infected gills were associated with antigen processing/presentation and T and B cell receptor signaling (including B cell marker CD22 involved in B cell development). Overall the analysis supports the notion that I. multifiliis induces a massive and varied innate response upon which a range of adaptive immune responses are established which may contribute to the long lasting protection of immunized rainbow trout.

Baltic cod (Gadus morhua) is an important fish species on the world market but during the latest decades a marked increase of infections with third-stage larvae of the anisakid nematode Contracaecum osculatum in cod from eastern part of this brackish sea has been observed. Marked increases of the grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) population in this marine area explains the rise in infection level as this marine mammal is the final host of the parasite species. Concomitant with the rise in parasite abundance it has been noted that condition and growth of this codfish have decreased suggesting a parasite-induced effect. To investigate any association between parasite infection and physiological status of the host we performed a comparative transcriptomic analysis of liver obtained from C. osculatum infected and non-infected cod. A total of 47,025 unigenes were identified from cod liver, of which 2,085 (4.43%) unigenes were differentially expressed in the infected liver when compared to non-infected. Of the differentially expressed unigenes (DEGs) 1,240 unigenes were up-regulated while 796 were down-regulated. The Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis showed that 845 DEGs were highly represented in cellular process and single-organism process, cell and cell part, binding and catalytic activity. As determined by the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Gene and Genomes (KEGG) Pathways analysis, 241 DEGs were involved in 753 pathways. Eighty DEGs were related to metabolic pathways including carbohydrate, lipid, and amino acid metabolism. Twenty-four regulated genes were playing a role in immune response and twenty-five genes (most of which were down-regulated) were associated with growth of Baltic cod which indicated that the worm larva infection had significant effects on molecular mechanism involving metabolism, immune function and growth.

The nutritional value and ontogenetic variations of cultured fish was assessed for European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) reared in semi-intensive systems in two Portuguese estuaries, the most common fish rearing method in Portugal. Differences between the organoleptic composition of the same species reared in different aquacultures was assessed through the quantification of total protein, carbohydrate and fatty acid profiles. A significant influence of the rearing site was found for both species regarding carbohydrate content and fatty acid profiles, especially unsaturated fatty acids. No significant differences were found among groups concerning protein content. Differences in fatty acids and carbohydrates content between juvenile and adult stages were found for all groups studied. The present work supported the existing evidence that semi-intensive rearing systems are subjected to the variability of extrinsic factors, potentially resulting in different water composition among systems influencing the nutritional value of the same species depending on the production site (Alasalvar et al. 2002; Fuentes et al.2010). From a consumer’s perspective, and given the benefits from fish consumption due to their high content in omega-3 fatty acids (EFSA, 2014), such differences may come as a disadvantage, as it is expected for a product to provide equal nutritional properties and benefits regardless its origin. From the farmer’s perspective, such vulnerability requires constant monitoring of the parameters within facilities, to avoid losses of production. Further studies could define the parameters to be regulated and monitored in semi-intensive systems to obtain the best product with the highest quality.

Sydney rock oysters, (SRO: Saccostrea glomerata) are a native species in Australia and the most important aquaculture species in the state of New South Wales (NSW). However, production of this species has declined significantly since the mid-1970s, in part due to the impacts of mortality events associated with QX (Queensland unknown) disease. QX disease is caused by a spore-forming protozoan parasite called Marteilia sydneyi however; the presence of the parasite does not necessarily result in QX disease indicating the role of environmental and/or host-specific factors in disease progression. Another potential factor in QX disease is the microbiome of the SRO; however, little research has been conducted into the microbiome of this oyster species. In this study, we examined the microbiome of six families from the SRO breeding program with differing resistance to QX disease (two highly resistant, two with intermediate resistance and two susceptible) deployed in two different locations using 16S rRNA (V1 – V3 region) amplicon sequencing. The broad aim of this study was to determine the effect of local environmental parameters and disease resistance on the microbiome of the SRO. Our results show that microbiomes of SRO families significantly differed between the two deployment locations of Port Stephens and Wallis Lake (NSW), and between our two sampling points in the Austral summer and winter. Additionally, the SRO microbiome was influenced by QX disease resistance at Port Stephens at both time points with the susceptible lines significantly differing from the resistant and intermediate families. However, in Wallis Lake, the influence of host-specific QX disease resistance was not consistent over the two seasons suggesting that environmental factors can overcome the influence of host genetic factors.

This study was undertaken to assess effect of aeration on growth performance of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) cultured in wastewater stabilization pond (WSP) receiving residential wastewater from Chirapatre Estate in Kumasi, Ghana. Fingerlings obtained from local commercial farm at about 5g were cultured in concrete tanks to average weight of 40g in 8 weeks. The cultured fingerlings were transferred into two separate maturation ponds (MP) of WSP, each having surface area of 220m² and stocked at 4fish/m². Solar powered aerator (Leafy, Htsolar, China) was used to aerate each ponds for 3hours (04:00-07:00 GMT) every day for 12weeks culture period. The fish were made to depend on natural food sources in the pond without supplementary feeding. The Data on water quality was analyzed using standard methods (APHA, 2001) and statistically analyzed using Graphpad prism 5. Fish cultured in non-aerated wastewater ponds (NWFP) under similar condition as in aerated wastewater-fed pond (AWFP) served as control. The physico-chemical parameters of AWFP were 25.5±0.1mgl^-1, 4.7±1.2 mgl^-1, 100.0±10.0mgl^-1, and 40.0±2.5mgl^-1 for water temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), BOD₅, and COD respectfully and these were not significantly different from NWFP (Table 1). These water parameters fell within acceptable limits of Ghana EPA and US EPA except for DO in both treatments. Fish from AWFP performed marginally better than those in the NWFP in terms of weight gained and specific growth rate, though statistically they were not different (Table 2). In conclusion, aeration might have caused the better the growth performance of the catfish in the treated wastewater.

Isopods are protandrous hermaphrodite ectoparasitic crustaceans on the body surface, fins, and in buccal or branchial cavities of freshwater and marine fish species. Cymothoid species are serious parasites and currently affecting many lakes and fish farms all over the World. In Egypt, the isopod infestation was detected among fishes in Lake Qarun (an inland closed basin of salt water at Fayoum governorates) as invasion problem, also isopod species were detected in Lake Manzala and in some northern fish farms along the Mediterranean sea.  The present work was designed  to investigate the epidemiology of isopods among fish species in different localities and deal with the molecular identification , sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of  the different morph metric species that isolated from different hosts and localities in Egypt during our surveillance studies. SDS-PAGE was conducted on crude antigens prepared from the investigated isopod species where the polypeptide bands with their molecular weight were detected to be used in diagnosis and protection against isopod species using Western blot. The current work highlighted the epidemiology of isopod infestation in Egypt and provided a guide for diagnostic and control strategy development and application.