Physiological Responses to Three Different Levels of Vibration Stress in Catfish, Silurus asotus

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of vibration on primary (e.g. plasma cortisol), secondary (e.g. plasma glucose, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), $Na^+$, $K^+$ and $Cl^-$) and tertiary (e.g. mortality) stress responses in cultured catfish, Silurus asotus. For this purpose, three groups (one control group and two stress groups) were set up. The control group was exposed to vibration corresponding to 48 decibel (dB) volt (V) (produced using electric vibrators) for 15 minutes per hour every day, and the two stress groups were exposed to vibrations corresponding to 58 and 68 dB (V) (produced using the same electric vibrators), equally, for 15 minutes per hour every day. Blood was sampled at day 0 (before starting vibration stress tests), and at days 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 (after starting vibration stress tests). According to the results, the catfish physiologically showed ''typical'' stress responses when they were exposed to chronic vibration. This indicates that such chronic vibration caused substantial stress to catfish; especially, persistently elevated plasma AST and ALT levels observed caused adverse effects to them. In conclusion, chronic vibration could significantly affect hematological characteristics in catfish.