regulations of academia. Therefore, the goal of this study was to
assess the utility of carbon dioxide for inducing stage-4 anesthesia
in a broad range of marine fishes by examining its effectiveness.
An ideal anesthetic works quickly to minimize stress and injury and
allows the fish to recover quickly and be returned to the wild immediately.
Here, we assess effectiveness using induction time and
recovery time. We evaluate variability in these measures related
to species, size, and energetic state (fatigued vs. rested). Our successful
experimentation with carbon dioxide anesthesia opens the
door for field research that requires anesthesia for minor surgery
on marine food fishes, such as tissue biopsy and implantation of
electronic tags.