Effects of surgical implantation of electronic tags in fishes: a review and meta-analysis

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Shorgan, Graham D. Raby, Amber L. Fedus, Bradley E. Howell, and 7 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5851388/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 9 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Electronic tags have been used for decades and continue to gain popularity. Tags are often implanted in the coelom of fishes, with a substantial body of experimental evidence now assessing the effects of those tags. We revisit a review of tagging effects (Cooke et al. 2011 ) to provide the most comprehensive review and meta-analysis of intracoelomic tagging effects in fishes to date. We reviewed 295 studies, yielding 226 laboratory trials reporting survival and 215 reporting tag retention. Mean survival in tagged fishes was 88.26% and tag retention was 87.05%. Both metrics were negatively related to tag:body mass ratios (i.e., tag burden), remaining above 90% on average with tag burdens below ~ 3–4%. Substantial heterogeneity existed among studies, with a modest portion of the variability in survival and tag retention explained by family, tag burden or trial duration. Across the tagging effects literature, 42% of papers documented negative effects of tagging on growth, and 34% found reduced critical swimming speeds relative to controls. Progress has been made in addressing some knowledge gaps, but biases in the tagging effects literature remain and only a small fraction of species used in electronic tagging studies are represented. Interest in understanding sublethal endpoints is growing, however, the importance of factors such as sex, reproductive status, sterility, and tag coatings remain poorly understood. Tag burdens of ~ 3–4% appear to balance tag size and unwanted tagging effects. More research is needed to better understand sublethal tagging effects and improve the inferences made from electronic tagging studies. Tagging effects electronic tags biotelemetry intracoelomic tagging meta-analysis Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SImerged.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 14 Jul, 2025 Reviews received at journal 12 Jul, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 22 May, 2025 Reviews received at journal 15 Mar, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 17 Feb, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 17 Feb, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 18 Jan, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 18 Jan, 2025 First submitted to journal 17 Jan, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5851388","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Systematic Review","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":421813253,"identity":"61fc882d-0f13-446c-a45a-30c15926c1aa","order_by":0,"name":"Mitchell B. 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Tags are often implanted in the coelom of fishes, with a substantial body of experimental evidence now assessing the effects of those tags. We revisit a review of tagging effects (Cooke et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR45\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2011\u003c/span\u003e) to provide the most comprehensive review and meta-analysis of intracoelomic tagging effects in fishes to date. We reviewed 295 studies, yielding 226 laboratory trials reporting survival and 215 reporting tag retention. Mean survival in tagged fishes was 88.26% and tag retention was 87.05%. Both metrics were negatively related to tag:body mass ratios (i.e., tag burden), remaining above 90% on average with tag burdens below ~\u0026thinsp;3\u0026ndash;4%. Substantial heterogeneity existed among studies, with a modest portion of the variability in survival and tag retention explained by family, tag burden or trial duration. 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