Prior anesthesia impairs a chemically mediated fright response in a gobiid fish.

Quinaldine and phenoxyethanol, two commonly used fish anesthetics, reduced the intensity of a chemically induced fright response in a marine goby. MS-222, an anesthetic that has been indicated as harmful to fish olfaction, had no significant effect. Understanding these effects must await further study, but it is clear that caution should be exercised. One should definitely not use quinaldine or phenoxyethanol instead of MS-222 in an effort to avoid harmful effects.