Considerações metodológicas sobre os testes de preferência na avaliação do bem-estar em peixes

• Autor(a) principal: Volpato, Gilson Luiz [UNESP]
• Data de Publicação: 2007
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNESP
• Texto Completo: http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1516-35982007001000006; http://hdl.handle.net/11449/212982
• topic: choice test; fish; preference test; stress; welfare; well-being; bem-estar; estresse; peixes; teste de preferência

In a recent review on the concept of fish welfare, I argue that concern on fish welfare is definitively a genuine matter, and the main challenge is to find valid methodologies to evaluate this internal state in these animals. I also argue in that review that studies on fish preference should be emphasized, instead of frustrated attempts to empirically demonstrate sentience in the non-human animals. From this theoretical background, in the present text I examine more detailed the preference tests, indicating important conditions and restrictions to minimize misunderstanding that could affect interpretation about the state of fish welfare. First, I indicate fish conditions that should be considered to analyze results of preference tests. They are: phylogeny, biological rhythms, ecological conditions, ontogeny, social condition, and individual experience. Then, I discuss methodological conditions and approaches to perform and interpret preference tests, an attempt to improve understanding on what the fish has to tell us about their internal states of welfare.