Retention of Passive Integrated Transponder, T-Bar Anchor, and Coded Wire Tags in Lepisosteids

Increased interest in the management and conservation of gars (family Lepisosteidae) has resulted in the need to identify individual fish in wild and hatchery stocks; however, tagging methods have not been evaluated for these species. We estimated tag retention for passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags, T-bar anchor tags (Floy), and coded wire tags in alligator gar Atractosteus spatula, longnose gar Lepisosteus osseus, and spotted gar L. oculatus. Tag retention up to 876 d was similar across species for all tag types and tagging locations. Retention exceeded 98% for PIT tags injected into the muscle at the base of the dorsal fin and did not decrease with days posttagging. Retention was 97% for coded wire tags injected into the muscle at the base of the pectoral and anal fins. Retention of T-bar anchor tags was ≥ 97% through 500 d posttagging; however, T-bar anchor tag retention declined after 500 d and tags became difficult to read. The high retention of the tags evaluated in this study provides biologists with a variety of options for tagging lepisosteids in future management, conservation, and research. Received February 3, 2012; accepted March 15, 2012