Validation of the HemoCue Hb 801 portable haemoglobin analyser for fish blood

Haemoglobin concentration ([Hb]) assessment in fish blood has become a routine parameter to measure the health and welfare status of the animals. The original method (haemoglobincyanide method, best known as the Drabkin method) for measuring Hb in human and animals is not well suited for work outside of a laboratory setting. It is relatively time consuming, contains hazardous cyanide elements, and requires specific laboratory material. As an alternative to the Drabkin method, portable analysers have been developed for human blood, but they need to be first validated for fish blood before being used in experiments. In this study, the performance of the new HemoCue Hb 801 portable haemoglobin analyser was compared to the validated Drabkin method to determine [Hb] in three fish species. Hb readings between the two methods were not different for any of the species tested (rainbow trout, Onchorynchus mykiss, Atlantic wolffish, Anarhichas lupus, and Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus). Therefore, this new portable device can be readily used to measure Hb in fish blood. Unlike the previous model from HemoCue, the Hb 201+, this device does not need an incubation time or a correction factor, representing a major gain of time and precision.