Quantifying Fish Swimming Behavior in Response to Acute Exposure of Aqueous Copper Using Computer Assisted Video and Digital Image AnalysisRobin D. Calfee 1, Holly J. Puglis 1, Edward E. Little 1, William G. Brumbaugh 1, Christopher A. Mebane 2
1Columbia Environmental Research Center, US Geological Survey, 2US Geological Survey
Measuring the impacts of environmental contaminants on fish behavior is often subjective and challenging particularly when dealing with sublethal endpoints. We describe methods including video technology to quantify swimming behavior of early life stage white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) during and after 96 hr acute exposures to various concentrations of copper.