Aerts, J.

Chiers, K.

De Swaef, E.

Decostere, A.

Devriese, L

Vercauteren, M.

Open Marine Archive

29 
Oral presentation Pre-doc level 
Let’s talk about stress: Can we measure the stress of a flatfish?  
Vercauteren Maaike1, De Swaef Evelien2, Devriese Lisa3, Aerts Johan4, Decostere Annemie1 and 
Chiers Koen1 
1  Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department Pathology, Bacteriology and Avian Diseases, 
Ghent University, Campus Merelbeke, Salisburylaan 133, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium 
E-mail: maaike.vercauteren@ugent.be  
2  Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Morphology, Ghent University, Campus 
Merelbeke, Salisburylaan 133, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium 
3  Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), InnovOcean site, Wandelaarkaai 7, 8400 Oostende, Belgium 
4  Stress Physiology Research Group (Stress Chron), University Ghent and ILVO, Campus 
GreenBridge, Wetenschapspark 1, 8400 Oostende, Belgium  
 
Marine fish reside in a stressful environment. Wind farms, fishing activities, cruise ships, 
dredging but also rising seawater temperature, changing salinity and others can cause a 
disruption of the environment and increase the stress of the fish. This stress evokes a hormonal 
stress response regulated by the hypothalamus - pituitary gland - interrenal axis (HPI axis). The 
outcome of the activation of the HPI-axis is the production of cortisol which on its turn can help 
the fish to adapt to the change and cope with stress. When certain stressors remain for a longer 
period of time, fish experience chronical stress. This can cause harmful effects on the health 
and growth of fish. Despite its importance, only recently a method was pinpointed to investigate 
the chronical stress level of fish by evaluation of the glucocorticoid profile in the scales (Aerts et 
al., 2015). However, this method was only tested in aquaculture species and never in wild caught 
fish. Hence, the main aim of the study was to investigate the glucocorticoid profile in wild 
caught common dab (Limanda limanda). If glucocorticoids, and more specifically cortisol, are 
stored in the scales, this can offer a good biomarker to measure chronical stress in common dab 
and can even help to assess the effect of anthropogenic activities at sea. 
 
In total 111 fish were caught and the glucocorticoid profile of the scales was analyzed of all fish. 
Scales of 75 fish were analyzed immediately after catch. The other 36 fish were kept in artificial 
environments for 4 (18 fish) or 6 (18 fish) months after which the glucocorticoid profile was 
analyzed.  
 
Scales of fish that were analyzed immediately after catch contained on average 0.004 ± 0.006 µg 
cortisol per kg scales. Scales of fish that were kept under artificial circumstances contained 
more cortisol (0.066 ± 0.066 µg/kg). This demonstrates that common dab is able to store cortisol 
in their scales and that this analysis can be used as a biomarker for chronical stress. 
 
Furthermore, it also indicates that wild-caught fish kept in artificial environments endure 
chronic stress which has to be kept in mind when performing long-term experimental studies.  
 
Keywords: Cortisol; Biomerker; Stress; Flatfish; Common dab 
  


Let’s talk about stress: can we measure the stress of a flatfish?

http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/324957.pdf

Let’s talk about stress: can we measure the stress of a flatfish?

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