Guidelines for research using fish

Please also see the PREPARE guidelines for planning and conducting animal research and testing and the section on zebrafish.

• Revised version of Appendix A of the "European Convention for the protection of animals used for scientific purposes". The revision came into force on 15 June 2007 and the aim was to include species-specific guidelines for a number of fish species, in a background document, but these were never published. The Appendix contains a general section on fish (pages 104-109).
• Difford (2023): Statistical power and design of aquaculture experiments: Getting the most certainty with the least fish 
• Guidelines for the severity classification of procedures on fish
• Wootten R (2005) Species-specific provisions for fish in the European Convention for the protection of animals used for experimental and scientific purposes (presentation at a meeting in Oslo in May 2005)
• Griffin G (2005) Canadian Guidelines for the care & use of fish in research, teaching and testing (presentation at a meeting in Oslo in May 2005)
• Guidelines on: the care and use of fish in research, teaching and testing (2005) from the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC)
• Approved protocols for decapods, cephalopods and fish (Guidance from the Animal Ethics Sub-Committee of the University of KwaZulu-Natal Ethics Committee, South Africa)
• Johansen R., Needham JR, Colquhoun D., Poppe TT & Smith AJ. (2006):  Guidelines for health and welfare monitoring of fish used in research.  Laboratory Animals 40(4): 323-340
• Considerations for a European animal welfare standard to evaluate adverse phenotypes in teleost fish
• Guidelines for the Use of Fishes in Research (2004) American Fisheries Society (AFS)
• Ostrander GK (2000) The Laboratory Fish. Academic Press, Baltimore, USA.
• Poole T (1999) UFAW Handbook on the Care and Management of Laboratory Animals. Volume 2: Amphibious & Aquatic Vertebrates & Advanced Invertebrates.  Blackwell Science.
• Casebolt DB, Speare DJ, Horney BS (1998) Care and use of fish as laboratory animals: Current state of knowlege. Laboratory Animal Science 48, 124-136
• DeTolla LJ et al. (1995) Guidelines for the Care and Use of Fish in Research ILAR Journal 37 (4)
• Borski RG, Hodson RJ (2003) Fish Research and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee ILAR journal 44 (4)
• Brattelid T, Smith AJ (2000) Guidelines for reporting the results of experiments using fish Laboratory Animals 34 131-135
• The welfare of farmed fish at slaughter (concerns about carbon dioxide use) (HSUS report)
• Schaeffer et al. (1992) The Care and Use of Amphibians, Reptiles and Fish in Research Scientists for Animal Welfare (SCAW)
• Documents for laypeople on ethics committees, Royal Society for the Protection of Animals (RSPCA), UK
• Brattelid T (1999): Kompendium i forsøksdyrlære for fiskeforskere (Norwegian-language compendium from the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science)
• Westerfield M (2000) The zebrafish book. A guide for the laboratory use of zebrafish (Danio rerio). 4th ed., Univ. of Oregon Press, Eugene.
• Zebrafish Information Network
• Ethical considerations in fish research
• Animal models - theme issues from the ILAR journal