Comparison of Efficacy of Five Anesthetics in

Anesthetics are often used to immobilize fish in experimental research. Many chemicals have proved effective in anesthetization of fish. Each chemical has its own advantages and drawbacks. In this study, we selected five anesthetics, quinaldine, quinate, MS-222, benzo-caine, and 2-phenoxyethanol, to test the efficacy in anesthetization of goldlined sea bream, Sparus sarba. Our results indicate that the induction time of the fish exposed to the five anesthetic solutions generally decreased with increasing concentrations, but the recovery time was concentration independent. The effective concentrations which produced anes-thesia within 3 min and allowed recovery within 5 min for the respective anesthetics in goldlined sea bream were: quinaldine, 9 µl/l; quinate, 20 mg/l; MS-222, 100 mg/l; benzo-caine, 50 mg/l; and 2-phenoxyethanol, 400 µl/l. We also present a table which briefly com