Quantification of Opercular Pigmentation Changes in Farmed Atlantic Salmon: A Novel Application for Computer Vision in Fish Welfare Assessment
Intensive salmon farming is associated with high mortality rates, highlighting the need for new welfare indicators that can detect adverse conditions earlier and less invasively than many current approaches. Existing animal-based indicators used in the industry typically depend on subjective scoring and provide information mostly after welfare problems have already developed, such as emaciation, wounds, or scale loss. Preliminary data and ongoing investigation suggest that melanin-based skin pigmentation may change dynamically with stress and condition in salmonid fishes. […]