Device and process for the automatic slaughter of fish

Abstract

The invention relates to an apparatus for the automatic slaughter of fish, comprising a fish feeding device, a fish receiving chamber (10), a positioning device (11) adapted to hold the fish in a stationary position in the fish receiving chamber (10) and to release the fish after stunning, a stunning means (13) acting on the head side region of the fish to stun and / or bleed the fish in the stationary position, a bleeding tool (15) acting on the fish, configured and adapted to sever the fish's main artery, and a control device configured to control the positioning device (11), the action of the stunning means (13), and the action of the bleeding tool (15) on the fish in the stationary position.wherein the stunning means (13) are adapted to be controllably movable by means of a first pneumatic actuator (23) from a first standby position to a stunning working position and vice versa, and the bleeding tool (15) is adapted to be controllably movable from a second standby position to a bleeding working position by means of a second pneumatic actuator (25) and vice versa, and is characterized in that the control device comprises at least one sensing means (22, 222), which is configured and adapted to detect the air pressure profile and / or to detect the air volume flow profile, in order to provide, by means of an evaluation unit on the basis of the detected air pressure profile and / or the detected air volume flow profile, a status signal,which allows a conclusion to be reached regarding the operation of the stunning means (13) and / or the bleeding tool (15). Furthermore, the invention relates to a process for the automatic slaughter of fish.