Recreational catch-and-release angling (C&R) is prevalent and growing in popularity, along with concerns over the welfare of released fish. Although there have been many studies quantifying post-release mortality in fish exposed to C&R, there is growing interest in understanding and minimizing any sublethal consequences of recreational fisheries interactions with the aim of improving fish health and welfare. Short-term fish behavior has been explored as an endpoint for C&R, but effects of hooking injury have not been examined independently of other angling stressors. We used Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) as a model to assess whether immediate injuries from hooking or the retention of a hook influenced fish behavior compared to unhooked controls using Z-maze and flight initiation distance tests. Fish that retained a hook were less likely to leave a refuge-emergence chamber than fish that were hooked–unhooked or unhooked controls. Moreover, when fish with the hook retained did leave the refuge, they were less exploratory than fish in the other two treatments. Unhooked control fish and fish that were hooked-unhooked did not significantly differ in their overall behavioral patterns outside the refuge. This suggests that fish are resilient to the acute tissue damage associated with minor hooking injuries and that reported behavioral impairments in fish after release are driven more by hook retention, physiological exhaustion from the fight, landing, and/or subsequent handling and air exposure.

休闲捕捞和释放垂钓 (C&R) 很普遍，并且越来越受欢迎，同时也担心被释放的鱼的福利。尽管有许多研究量化了暴露于 C&R 的鱼类的释放后死亡率，但人们越来越有兴趣了解和最小化休闲渔业相互作用的任何亚致死后果，以改善鱼类健康和福利。已将短期鱼类行为作为 C&R 的终点进行了探索，但尚未独立于其他垂钓压力因素对钓钩损伤的影响进行研究。我们使用了蓝鳃鱼（Lepomis macrochirus) 作为一个模型，用于评估与使用 Z 迷宫和飞行起始距离测试的未钩控制相比，钩子的直接伤害或钩子的保留是否会影响鱼的行为。保留钩子的鱼比上钩的鱼更不可能离开避难涌现室——脱钩或脱钩控制。此外，当保留鱼钩的鱼确实离开避难所时，它们的探索性低于其他两种处理中的鱼。未上钩的对照鱼和已上钩的鱼在避难所外的整体行为模式没有显着差异。这表明鱼对与轻微钩伤相关的急性组织损伤具有弹性，并且报告的鱼在释放后的行为障碍更多是由鱼钩滞留、搏斗、着陆、