Fish get low-tech "chamber rides" and recover from barotrauma (NPR this morning)

[nolatom]

It was an interesting listen, here's the article. I didn't think fish would get bent, but they do, or at least some do. This is about resubmerging and recompressing bycatch from the deep. They seem to recover from barotrauma (eyes popping out, stomachs distended) much better than we do, which I guess stands to reason since they live in water and we don't.

Didn't they learn Boyle's Law ("Breathe Or Your Lungs Explode!") in those schools they go to?? ;-)

How Anglers Are Learning To Save Fish That Get 'The Bends' : The Salt : NPR

 

[knotical]

From the article:

These fish die even though they are handled gently and released quickly. The reason: a condition called barotrauma, which divers know as "the bends." The problem occurs in fish that have a swim bladder, an internal balloon that helps them control their buoyancy. When a fish is pulled up, "that balloon rapidly begins to expand as the pressure from the water decreases," says Chris Lowe a marine scientist at California State, Long Beach. So by the time a deep-water fish reaches the surface, he says, "its eyes could be popped out of its head, its stomach is pushed out of its mouth and it looks absolutely horrific."

A terminology nit: It's not the bends, but it is barotrauma. i.e. it is not DCS. More akin to lung over-expansion than to exceeding no-decompression limits.

 

[casts_by_fly]

neat article. When tournament bass fishing started to become really popular in the late 80's and early 90's, there were a lot of events held on Lake erie where the smallmouth bass were caught in 40+ ft of water and died of swim bladder trauma. Many anglers started using large horse needles or similar to puncture the air bladder from the outside of the fish and decrease the volume. It worked well for the most part and release rates went up significantly.

thanks,
rick