Abstract
Chronic stress in fish due to the intensification in aquaculture can lead to reduced performance (metabolism, growth, reproduction) and a compromised immune system, resulting in a decline in fish production yield and fish welfare. In this framework, quantification and subsequent mitigation of chronic stress was shown to be pivotal in a more sustainable aquaculture. Non-specific mortality of salmonids in the seawater-rearing phase is one of the major recurring problems in the aquaculture industry and especially the sudden stress-related mortality of fish ready for slaughter and subsequent economic losses. However, knowledge on the underlying factors causing this mortality are lacking, though it is attributed in large part to cardiac disease which could be linked to chronic stress. Indeed, it was demonstrated that cortisol responsiveness in salmonids is associated with pathological remodelling of the heart and that this stress hormone directly induces such remodelling. The main objective of this study is to unravel the effects of individual coping style and long-term cortisol up-regulation on cardiac remodelling in one of the most important aquaculture species, the Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, look at the consequences for fish performance and test a potential mitigation strategy.
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