Journal article
A Preliminary Evaluation of Propylene Phenoxetol and Menthol Crystals for Anaesthesia of Adult Holothuria (Metriatyla) scabra: Behavioural and Morphometric Responses
Aquaculture Research, Vol.2026(1), pp.1-7
2026
Appears in UniSC Supported Open Access Outputs
Abstract
Effective anaesthesia can play an important role in the safe handling of adult sandfish, Holothuria (Metriatyla) scabra, to reduce handling stress, mitigate evisceration risk and make reliable individual morphometric measurements. Handling is required when collecting broodstock for hatchery‐based propagation, translocating animals or conducting population surveys. We conducted two independent experiments to evaluate the efficacy of propylene phenoxetol (1‐phenoxypropan‐2‐ol: C9H12O2) and menthol crystals (2‐isopropyl‐5‐methylcyclohexanol: C10H20O) as anaesthetic agents at three different concentrations. Propylene phenoxetol was evaluated at concentrations of 0.0025%, 0.01% and 0.02%, while menthol crystal concentrations were 0.5%, 1%, and 2%, respectively. Anaesthetic efficacy was assessed by measuring oral tentacle response latency and morphometric measurements (length, width and weight) over time. Propylene phenoxetol produced weaker and inconsistent effects on oral tentacle response latency and all body measurements. In contrast, menthol crystals induced strong and significant, dose‐dependent effects (p < 0.001). Oral tentacle responses increased with concentration, body length progressively increased over time, and width and weight were affected only at the highest concentration. Progressive relaxation induced by menthol crystal application (following further optimisation) may offer advantages for handling and transport of sandfish, while propylene phenoxetol did not appear to induce a measurable narcotic effect. These findings provide practical guidance for further development of anaesthetic selection in sandfish research and aquaculture operations.
Details
- Title
- A Preliminary Evaluation of Propylene Phenoxetol and Menthol Crystals for Anaesthesia of Adult Holothuria (Metriatyla) scabra: Behavioural and Morphometric Responses
- Authors
- Deepika S Goundar - Ministry of Fisheries, FijiJasha B Dehm - University of the South PacificKelly T Brown - University of the South PacificPaul C Southgate - University of the Sunshine CoastMonal M Lal (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
- Publication details
- Aquaculture Research, Vol.2026(1), pp.1-7
- Publisher
- John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
- Date published
- 2026
- DOI
- 10.1155/are/5849821
- ISSN
- 1365-2109
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2026 Deepika S. Goundar et al. Aquaculture Research published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
- Data Availability
- The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
- Organisation Unit
- Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991263495602621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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