Water Education Foundation
This is just one post in the Weird & Wacky Water News Category
Click here to view all posts

Farmed salmon being subjected to excercise regimes to stay fit

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 22, 2008 at 5:51 am

From AlterNet, this rather bizarre story about farmed salmon:

Sit-ups, crunches, weightlifting, interval training — sounds like a rigorous workout for anyone trying to get in shape. Could this be a fitness regimen for salmon too? That’s what the scientists in Norway are trying to prove.

Since training and exercise are essential in maintaining good health for humans, could the same be applied to fish? In order to make farmed salmon stronger and more resistant to disease once they are transferred to ocean cages, a research group in Norway is trying to get farmed juvenile salmon in shape for ocean water using some techniques from the top football team of Spain (we here in the U.S. call it soccer). Scientists from the project discovered that the heart capacity in wild salmon is greater than in farmed salmon, so they put the farmed salmon on a strict training regime to make their hearts stronger.

The exercise? They say the equivalent of jogging — swimming faster with increased water velocity in their tanks. The fish in the trial were divided into three groups — one was a control group (normal fish tank conditions), one group was put in a tank with increased water velocity throughout the day, and one group was put in a tank for “jogging” or intervals of increased water velocity (what the scientists call “high intensity training”).

They actually put heart rate monitors on the fish….! Read more from AlterNet by clicking here.

May 22, 2008 · Filed Under Weird & Wacky Water News

Comments

Leave a Reply