What Happens When They Are Eaten?

Been awhile since I’ve posted anything here. A busy summer and autumn for me personally and business wise.  And although I’m not much into it anymore (I haven’t done any of it in over a decade), my “wee man” is interested in trying ice fishing this winter. So, I’ve been doing some thinking about that – and maybe tying up some heavy streamers we can use to jig under the ice.

So I was reading the most recent issue of the “Grand Times,”  the newsletter that is published by “Friends of the Grand River” this evening.  One article co-authored by Jill Hanna & Mike Wilkie caught my attention.  It’s entitled “Brown Trout Pit Tagging Project Update – Field and Lab Results.”

Seems that Jill Hanna has been trying some experiments in tracking brown trout by implanting a half inch transponder into the fish. Attempts have been made to then track and identify the fish.

However, the article states, “The team was only able to visually identify a few trout in the enclosure, suggesting many either escaped or were eaten over the six-week experiment.”

Anyone knows what happens to that transponder when a brown trout eats a brown trout that has had one implanted into it?  That can’t be good for the trout that dined on the implanted trout.

I don’t know if a half inch electronic device would be very healthy going through a fish’s digestive system.