An Acoustic Telemetry System for Monitoring The Heart Rate of Pike, Esox Lucius L., and Other Fish In Their Natural Environment

Heart rate can be telemetered from fish using FM radio transmitters (Nomura & Ibaraki, 1969), FM acoustic transmitters (Wardle & Kanwisher, 1974), acoustic pulsed transmitters (Priede & Young, 1977), electromagnetic transmitters (Priede et al. 1985) and acoustic transponders (Storeton-West et al. 1978). Most of these systems transmit only over short distances or cannot be used with the standard equipment used in animal-tracking studies. This paper describes an acoustic transmitter which emits a high-power pulse triggered by the R wave of the electrocardiogram (ECG) and is compatible with normal field equipment for tracking fish.