Stainless steel head dart tags (SSD) are for marking large fish such as billfish and sharks which can not be easily brought aboard. The tag head is specially ground and sharpened to anchor smoothly in firm tissue or muscle. All metal used in the dart head and wire is 316S grade surgical steel. SSD tags are made with the stainless steel wire covering the inside of the first 7cm of the marker. Some researchers prefer to have a stainless steel wire core along the length of the tag if there is a high likelihood of the tags being bitten by other sharks or predatory fish. These tags have superior legibility and integrity to our competitor’s products.

Stainless steel head (type SSD) dart tags remain a popular tag for numerous shark species.


 

Large PIMA billfish tag and applicator tip (above measure) and small gamefish PIMS tag and applicator tip (below measure)

Like the SSD tags the plastic head intra-muscular tags - type PIMS (small) and PIMA (large) - are also used for tagging large gamefish that can not easily be brought on board. The tag head was developed by the Billfish Foundation (US) and the US National Marine Fisheries Service and has become the favoured tag for billfish in most parts of the world. These tags are not suitable for tagging sharks due to the toughness of the skin. There is some evidence that the softer, rounder nylon head promotes tissue healing faster than in the stainless steel head version resulting in an apparent increase in tag retention over SSD tags in some species of billfish. There is also some published evidence (in tuna) of higher mortality with this tag type compared with standard plastic tipped dart tags so the right tag for your needs will be determined by a number of factors including your study objectives as well as cost considerations.

Hallprint's PIMS and PIMA tags will not suffer problems associated with detachment of the marker that have been reported from similar tags made using these heads by other manufacturers. This is because our markers are moulded to the monofilament to produce an integrated unit without the need for glue or print-obstructing mono doubles to keep the marker on. We consider that print legibility and retention on our tags is also far superior to our competition - view this for yourself by asking for some free samples.