Visible Implant Elastomer Tags (VIE)

Visible Implant Elastomer Tags (VIE)

By: Macy Moherman

I can

handle

that!

impact on animals

Process of tagging

• Positive- Most animals are not harmed or effected by the implant.
• In a study on Brown Trout, suggests that capture and marking had no major negative effect on fish growth or mortality.

In a recent Study on

zebra fish

Advantages of VIE tags

• Up to 120 adult zebrafish can be tagged in one hour
• Does not increase mortality in adult zebrafish
• Or interfere with growth in juvenile or adult zebrafish

Hohn, 2013

(Olsen & Vøllestad, 2001)

REsources

Limitations of VIE tags

Hohn, C. (2013). BIOLOGY OPEN. 2; 12; p1397-p1401

Nicolás, A., Juan, M., Montero, D., Oliva, V., Fernández, H., & Izquierdo, M. (2005) Aquaculture Research. Vol. 36 Issue 8, p733-738.

Northwest Marine Technology. (2008). Visible Implant Elastomer Tag Project Manual. Guidelines on planning and conducting projects using VIE and associated equipment

Olsen, E., & Vøllestad, A. ( 2001).An Evaluation of Visible Implant Elastomer for Marking Age-0 Brown Trout. North American Journal of Fisheries Management, 21(4).

Tagging of White's seahorse. (2012).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8HnfMnSRYAstorga,

Check out this video!

• Limited coding capacity
• Tag may be difficult to detect if tissue is laid down over the tag
• Tags may not be noticed by casual observers

Goodbye!!

• The system uses a bio-compatible, two-part, elastomer material.
• Mixed then injected into the animal using a syringe.
• Hours or days this material cures into a pliable solid.

(Northwest Marine Technology,2008).

• High retention rates
• Used for small fish or animals
• Minimal impact on fish survival, growth and behavior
• Low material cost
• Fast to apply
• Tags detected visually in ambient light

Tagging of a Sea Horse

(Northwest MarineTechnology,2008)

(Nortwest Marine Technology,2008)

So is this

going to

hurt?

What are Visible Implant Elastomer Tags or simply (VIE)?

Color of tags

• A variety of colors can be used to tag.
• Colors are used based on the ability to see the tag in the animals natural environment.
• In a recent study involving the tagging of juvenile gilthead seabream, the colors red, green, orange and yellow were used.
• The most visible tag that they tested was the color red. (Nicolás, Juan, Montero, Oliva, Fernández, & Izquierdo, 2005)

So what exactly

are you

going to do

to me?

• The VIE system provides colored tags that are visable externally.
• Used for fish and other animals that are too small for NMT VI Alpha tag.
• Injected in transparent or translucent tissue.

Visible Implant Elastomer Tags (VIE)

(Northwest Marine Technology,2018)

what did

they put

on me?