Handling of fish... koi, pondfish... Mucus f'    10/21/07 Hi, Too many times I see people that sell fish especially koi pick up and hold them with their bare hands and then measure them. Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't this remove the natural slime not to mention stress the fish out? I figure netting the fish is enough trauma without going through all of the excess torture. Am I wrong to not want to purchase from places that put their fish through so much stress?? Thanks, Doris <Hello Doris. Indeed, most fish do not like to be handled, and yes, you can risk damaging the scales and skin. Up to a point, the mucus will be re-secreted if any is lost, and I'm not convinced that handling a fish is any better or worse than netting a fish as far as losing mucus goes. It's probably six of one, half a dozen of the other. Mucus has a low metabolic cost, so assuming a fish is in basically good shape, loss of mucus isn't particularly serious (it's comparable to mucus produced in our nose, mouth and throat, where mucus is constantly being lost). What matters is minimising the time a fish is out of water. I have seen aquarists handle large fish like koi in preference to using nets. Expert fishkeepers at least may consider the relative softness and smoothness of their hands kinder to the skin of their fish than the coarse netting used in large nets. But that's probably a personal judgment call rather than anything objectively tested. Anyway, to answer your specific question: a good fish retailer won't be handling any fish out of water regularly. Indeed, the less often, the better. If the fish are handled excessively and without care, it should be apparent by missing scales, damaged fins, finrot, fungus, etc on the fish in the store. On the other hand, koi are large fish with solid bodies and heavy scales, and up to a point they tolerate handling well (their ancestors, plain Carp, Cyprinus carpio, are incredibly durable fish). So while you're right to be cautious, if the quality and health of the livestock on sale is good, the fact the retailer handles the fish shouldn't be a reason to boycott the store in and of itself. Cheers, Neale.>

Question re: article on Fish Body Slime    6/6/06 Hi, <Hello there> I read your article, "The Functions of Body Slimes of Fishes," and found it very interesting (http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fbodyslimfsh.htm).  I was particularly interested in your comments about fish "breathing" thru their skin.  I have been trying for some time to find more information on this subject.  I liked the fact that you gave references but was not able to figure out from the titles which article or book might have contained the respiration thru the skin information. Can/will you please provide your source info? My thanks in advance. Best regards, Spike Cover <Mmm, this piece was penned (and not updated) more than thirty years ago... I strongly encourage you to make a visit to a large college library that has a biology dept. and ask a reference librarian to help you with a computer based search of the subject area. Please see here: http://wetwebmedia.com/litsrchart.htm There are some current "Ichthyology" college course text books, and works on "Fish Physiology" which likely have short sections on this issue as well... but these may take some time to wade through. Bob Fenner>

RE: Fish slime article in Aquarium Fish magazine Dear Mr. Fenner, I am a freelance writer for Aquarium Fish magazine, among many others, and I am writing an article on the function of fish's body slime. I need some quotes for my article on this subject and I was wondering if you would be willing to assist me. If you can answer some questions, I would greatly appreciate it. Please contact me as soon as possible as I have a close deadline to meet. Sincerely, Erica Stoton websites: www.realpetreviews.com and www.cph-cd.8m.com <I will gladly help you. My "old" (1973) piece on this topic is placed here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/f'bodyslimes.htm Please send what you will ASAP as am out of the country (and Net connection) for a while soon. Bob Fenner>

Body Slime of Fishes To whom this may concern, I am currently a second year surgery resident atNYU and I am thinking about some research possibilities. I have beena long time fish enthusiast and I think that I just might be able to incorporate one of my hobbies into a viable research project. I have been searching the web for any informationthat I can find on the slime coats of fish and have come up with very few matches. One reference I did find was "The Function of Body Slimein Fishes" Fenner, Bob and Cindy DVM , Freshwater and Marine Aquarium,June 1986, pp.75-79. It would be greatly appreciated if I could geta copy of this article or at least information on how to obtain this article. In addition if there are other scientific papers written on this subject (especially composition of the slime) please let me know where I can find them. Thank you, Scott Laker, MD <And though this piece is quite old, please let me know if you'd like to see the original bibliography. Bob Fenner>