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  • OPEN ACCESS
    Effect of water temperature on the hydrolysis of two absorbable sutures used in fish surgery
    FACETS • Vol. 1 • pp. 44 - 54
    Persistence of absorbable sutures in fishes in waters below 10 °C affects surgical decisions including approach, closure strategy, and suture selection. We hypothesized that the rate of suture hydrolysis would vary directly with water temperature. Two absorbable monofilament 3-0 suture materials used in fish surgery, poliglecaprone (Monocryl™) and polyglyconate (Maxon™), were evaluated. The maximum tensile load (strength) was measured for suture loops (n = 6) maintained in filtered city water for 2, 4, 6, or 8 weeks at 4, 25, or 37 °C. For Maxon™ at 4 or 25 °C, tensile strength did not decrease over time. However, for Monocryl™ at 4 °C, 2-, 4-, and 8-week loops were stronger than baseline loops. At 25 °C, tensile strength of the suture material declined after 2 weeks. Also, at 37 °C, the optimal design temperature for both suture materials, the strength of Maxon™ decreased at 6 and 8 weeks. Two 4-week loops of Monocryl™ disintegrated when handled, and after 6 and 8 weeks, all were untestable. This study confirms that absorbable sutures lose strength more slowly at ambient temperatures lower than the optimal design temperature (e.g., human body temperature) and will likely be retained longer in fishes living in waters below 25 °C.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Altered acrylic acid concentrations in hard and soft corals exposed to deteriorating water conditions
    FACETS • Vol. 2 • pp. 531 - 544
    A reliable marker of early coral response to environmental stressors can help guide decision-making to mitigate global coral reef decline by detecting problems before the development of clinically observable disease. We document the accumulation of acrylic acid in two divergent coral taxa, stony small polyp coral (Acropora sp.) and soft coral (Lobophytum sp.), in response to deteriorating water quality characterized by moderately increased ammonia (0.25 ppm) and phosphate (0.15 ppm) concentrations and decreased calcium (360 ppm) concentration, using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR)-based metabolomic techniques. Changes in acrylic acid concentration in polyp tissues free of zooxanthellae suggest that acrylic acid could be a product of animal metabolism and not exclusively a metabolic by-product of the osmolyte dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) in marine algae or bacteria. Our findings build on previously documented depletions of acrylic acid in wild coral potentially correlated to temperature stress and provide additional insight into approaches to further characterize the nature of the metabolic accumulation of acrylic acid under controlled experimental conditions.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    A comparison of infectious agents between hatchery-enhanced and wild out-migrating juvenile chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) from Cowichan River, British Columbia
    FACETS • Vol. 3 • No. 1 • pp. 695 - 721
    Infectious diseases are likely contributing to large-scale declines in chinook salmon stocks in the Pacific Northwest, but the specific agents and diseases involved, and the prevalences in migratory salmon, are mostly unknown. We applied a high-throughput microfluidics platform to screen for 45 infectious agents in 556 out-migrating juvenile chinook salmon, collected from freshwater (FW) and saltwater (SW) locations in the Cowichan River system on Vancouver Island, Canada, during 2014. Nineteen agents (5 bacterial, 2 viral, and 12 parasitic) were detected, with prevalences ranging from 0.2% to 57.6%. Co-infections between Candidatus Branchiomonas cysticola Toenshoff, Kvellestad, Mitchell, Steinum, Falk, Colquhoun & Horn, 2012, Paranucleospora theridion Nylund, Nylund, Watanabe, Arnesen & Kalrsbakk, 2010, and gill chlamydia, all associated with gill disease, were observed in SW samples. We detected agents known to cause large-scale mortalities in Pacific salmon (Ceratonova shasta (Noble, 1950), Parvicapsula minibicornis Kent, Whitaker & Dawe, 1977), and agents only recently reported in Pacific salmon in BC (Ca. B. cysticola, P. theridion, Facilispora margolisi Jones, Prosperi-Porta & Kim, 2012 and Parvicapsula pseudobranchicola Karlsbakk, Saether, Hostlund, Fjellsoy & Nylund, 2002). Wild and hatchery fish were most divergent in agent profiles in FW, with higher agent diversity in wild fish. Differences in prevalence largely dissipated once they converged in the marine environment, although hatchery fish may be infected by a greater diversity of agents sooner after ocean entry by virtue of their more rapid migration from nearshore to offshore environments.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    British Columbia freshwater salmon hatcheries demonstrate minimal contribution to piscine orthoreovirus (PRV) regional occurrence with no evidence for nonendemic strain introductions
    FACETS • Vol. 8 • pp. 1 - 9
    Piscine orthoreovirus genotype 1 (PRV-1) is a common virus in farmed and wild salmon in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. Its regional occurrence in freshwater is far less clear. From 2019 to 2021, tissues of 5619 juvenile anadromous salmon (primarily Atlantic, Chinook, and coho) sampled from 12 commercial and 27 enhancement British Columbia hatcheries during 83 sampling events were screened for PRV-1 prior to seawater entry. More than 2200 (∼40%) were also screened using a Pan-PRV assay targeting all known PRV genotypes. PRV-1 was detected in four coho salmon at two freshwater enhancement facilities and in one Chinook salmon at a commercial facility. Partial (S1 segment) genome sequencing identified detections to be of the PRV-1 subgenotype endemic to the northeastern Pacific. PRV-1 was not detected (5611 individuals; 99.9%) or test results were inconclusive (3 individuals; 0.05%) for all remaining samples screened for PRV-1. PRV-2 and PRV-3 were not detected using the Pan-PRV assay. It is concluded that commercial and enhancement freshwater hatcheries of British Columbia contribute minimally to the prevalence and persistence of PRV-1 in anadromous salmon of the northeastern Pacific, and these hatcheries appear not to have contracted or participated in the distribution of nonendemic forms of PRV in recent years.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Potential impacts of reduced seafood consumption on myocardial infarction among coastal First Nations in British Columbia, Canada
    FACETS • Vol. 9 • pp. 1 - 13
    The objective of this study is to examine the potential cardiovascular risk of climate-related declines in seafood consumption among First Nations in British Columbia by assessing the combined effects of reduced omega-3 fatty acids and mercury intake from seafood on the risk of myocardial infarction (MI) in 2050 relative to 2009. The data were derived from the First Nations Food, Nutrition, and Environment Study. Seafood consumption among 369 randomly selected participants was estimated, and hair mercury concentrations were measured. Declines in seafood consumption were modelled based on previously projected climate change scenarios, and the associated changes in nutrients and contaminants were used to estimate the cardiovascular risk. Reduced seafood consumption was projected to increase the risk of MI by 4.5%–6.5% among older individuals (≥50 years), by 1.9%–2.6% in men, and by 1.3%–1.8% in women under lower and upper climate change scenarios, respectively. Reduced seafood consumption may have profound cardiovascular implications. Effective strategies are needed to promote sustainable seafood harvests and access to seafood for coastal First Nations.