Methods to Induce Analgesia and Anesthesia in Crustaceans: A Supportive Decision Tool

Special issue Anaesthetics and Analgesics Used in Aquatic Animals.-- 42 pages, 4 tables.-- Data Availability Statement: Data is contained within the article. The data presented in this study are available in https://crusanest.icm.csic.es:8000/

Methods to induce analgesia and anesthesia for research purposes, handling, transport, or stunning have been used in 71 species of crustaceans. A non-systematic literature search was conducted on crustacean anesthetic methods. This review presents a comprehensive evaluation of drugs and non-chemical methods used to provide analgesia and anesthesia in many crustacean species rather than just decapod crustaceans. This information allows users to select an appropriate method or agent for their species of interest. We prepared an on-line tool based on datasette, a no-code open-source solution for simple web-based database frontends that allows exploration and downloading data by method, analgesic/anesthetic, species, life stage, or sex, as well as other data including environmental conditions (temperature, salinity, light), route of administration, dosage, and induction and recovery times. These values can be selected to filter the dataset and export it to CSV or JSON formats. Currently, several techniques and chemicals are, in our opinion, unsuitable for use as anesthetics in crustaceans, and the basis for these opinions are presented. Given the evidence of a pain-like experience in crustaceans, we propose that researchers should treat crustaceans humanely, applying the principles of good handling, care, and the management of stress and pain to safeguard their welfare

This research was funded by OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Co-operative Research Programme through the project entitled “Investigating the humane killing of CRUStaceans through science-based INdicators (CRUSIN)” awarded to GR and the project entitled “Improving welfare of crustaceans” funded by FORMAS (Sweden; Grant Ref. 2021-02262) to LS. PL received funding from Ramoin y Cajal programme of the Spanish Ministry of Science (Spain; Grant Ref. RYC2020-029067-I)

With the institutional support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S)

Peer reviewed