Comparative Efficacy of Anesthetics for the Freshwater Prawn Macrobrachiurn rosenbergii

Abstract— The freshwater prawn Macrobrachiurn rosenbergii is a commercially important culture species in the South Central United States. Two major constraints in the commercial culture of the freshwater prawn in the U.S. are poor survival during live transportation of seed‐stock to growout ponds, and live transportation of pond harvested prawn to distant live markets due to the territorial and cannibalistic nature of prawn. The use of anesthetics could possibly improve transport survival; however, to date anesthetic agents have not been evaluated for use with prawn. Two trials were conducted with juvenile freshwater prawn to compare the efficacy of anesthetics commonly used on fish. The first trial was designed to identify the most promising candidates. In Study 1, tricaine methanesulfonate (MS‐222), 2‐phenoxyethanol, quinaldine sulfate (quinaldine), clove oil, and Aqui‐S^TM were evaluated at 25 and 100 mg/L for 1 h in three replicate 10‐L glass containers, containing five juvenile prawn each. Relative sedation level was determined every 3 min for 1 h, then recovery time and survival were measured. In Study 1, MS‐222 and 2‐phenoxyethanol were determined to be ineffective on prawn at all rates tested. Based on their performance in Study 1, quinaldine, clove oil, and AquiS^TM were evaluated at 100, 200, and 300 mg/L in Study 2. Observations were determined as in Study 1. Clove oil and Aqui‐S^TM induced anesthesia faster and at lower concentrations than quinaldine. At the highest treatment rate (300 mg/L) prawn suffered 60% mortality in the Aqui‐S^TM treatment, 13% mortality in the quinaldine treatment, and 0% mortality in the clove oil treatment and control following a 1‐h exposure to these concentrations. Based on these data, Aqui‐S^TM and clove oil applied at 100 mg/L may be suitable anesthetic treatments for prawn. Additional research is needed to determine optimal time and dose relationships to minimize stress during holding, handling, and transportation of prawn.     

Identifying the driver of pulsating aurora

Pulsating aurora, a spectacular emission that appears as blinking of the upper atmosphere in the polar regions, is known to be excited by modulated, downward-streaming electrons. Despite its distinctive feature, identifying the driver of the electron precipitation has been a long-standing problem. Using coordinated satellite and ground-based all-sky imager observations from the THEMIS mission, we provide direct evidence that a naturally occurring electromagnetic wave, lower-band chorus, can drive pulsating aurora. Because the waves at a given equatorial location in space correlate with a single pulsating auroral patch in the upper atmosphere, our findings can also be used to constrain magnetic field models with much higher accuracy than has previously been possible.     

Effect of selected water temperatures used in Mycoplasma gallisepticum vaccine reconstitution on titer at selected time intervals

Numerous methods are currently used throughout the poultry industry for the administration of vaccines. Each utilizes water for vaccine reconstitution and/or administration, including two of the three commercially available live Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) vaccines. Selected water temperatures were used to reconstitute and/or dilute the three commercially available live MG vaccines. Water temperatures included 4 C, 22 C (room temperature), and 32 C, and titer (color change units) was recorded at four time intervals, at point of reconstitution (time 0), 15, 30, and 60 min postreconstitution of the vaccines (time periods 15, 30, and 60, respectively). Results for F strain MG (FMG) vaccine showed significant decreases in titer from time 0 to time 15 for the 22 C and 32 C water temperatures but no significant decrease for any time period for FMG reconstituted with 4 C water. For 6/85 strain MG no significant difference in titer was noted for any of four time periods within any of the three water temperatures. For ts-11 strain MG a significant decrease was observed in titer at each of the four postdilution time periods when diluted with 32 C water. There was no significant decrease in titer at any time period for ts-11 MG vaccine when diluted with either 4 C or 22 C water.