Drug Research Information Bulletin - The Efficacy of AQUI-S®20E (10% Eugenol) and BENZOAK® (20% Benzocaine) to Sedate Fish to Handleable: Individual Sedation versus Group Sedation

AQUI-S®20E (10% eugenol; AQUI-S New Zealand, Ltd., Lower Hutt, New Zealand) and BENZOAK® (20% benzocaine; Europharma, Victoria, Minnesota) are candidates for U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for use as immediate-release fish sedatives. As part of the AQUI-S®20E and BENZOAK® approval processes, several efficacy trials were conducted on a variety of freshwater-reared finfishes (e.g., Bowker et al. 2013a, 2013b, and 2013c). In those trials, fish were sedated individually; however, it is common in aquaculture and fisheries management to sedate fish in small groups. Therefore, in 2011, additional trials were conducted with AQUI-S®20E and BENZOAK® to investigate whether time to handleable was similar between individually sedated and group-sedated (1) Lake Trout (LKT) Salvelinus namaycush, (2) Walleye (WAE) Sander vitreus, and (3) Channel Catfish (CCF) Ictalurus punctatus, which served as representative cold-, cool-, and warmwater finfish, respectively.