Pirarucu (Arapaima gigas) is an exclusively air
breathing fish native from the Amazon basin. Pirarucu
farming is booming in some South and Central America
countries mainly due to its growth rate, reaching from 7
to 10kg in a twelve-month cycle (Imbiriba, 2001;
Pereira-Filho et al., 2003). With the increasing demand
for pirarucu to grow-out operations the determination of
an appropriate, simple, reliable, and inexpensive method
for an efficient transportation with the lowest stress
possible for the fish is required. Previous results obtained
by Gomes et al. (2003c) demonstrated that plastic bag
with pure oxygen is a feasible method for pirarucu transportation,
although fish exhibited some stress
responses.
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