scholarly journals Muscle fibre number varies with haemoglobin phenotype in Atlantic cod as predicted by the optimal fibre number hypothesis

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 590-592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian A Johnston ◽  
Marguerite Abercromby ◽  
Øivind Andersen

Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua L.) with the HbI-(2/2) haemoglobin phenotype have a higher blood oxygen affinity at low temperatures and a lower routine metabolic rate than individuals with the HbI-(1/1) phenotype. In the present study, muscle structure was found to be related to haemoglobin phenotype in a coastal population of Atlantic cod from the Saltenfjord region of Northern Norway. The maximum number of fast muscle fibres (FN max ) was reached at approximately 39 cm fork length and was 15% greater in the HbI-(1/1) than in the HbI-(2/2) phenotypes whereas the average fibre diameter for fish of the same fork length was significantly lower. Theoretically, the higher oxygen affinity of the HbI-(2/2) phenotype in the cold water of northern latitudes could have resulted in a relaxation of diffusional constraints at the level of individual muscle fibres, permitting the observed increase in fibre diameter. The results support the optimal fibre number hypothesis which envisages a trade-off between diffusional constraints and the energy cost of maintaining ionic homeostasis with fewer larger diameter muscle fibres in the HbI-(2/2) phenotype contributing to a lower routine metabolic rate.

2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (9) ◽  
pp. 1515-1527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Björn Björnsson

This study supports the hypothesis that well-fed cod (Gadus morhua) seek higher temperatures to increase growth rate, and poorly fed cod select lower temperatures to save metabolic energy. Depth and temperature of free-ranging adult cod (44–79 cm) were studied with data storage tags as part of a ranching project in an Icelandic fjord. Forage fish were regularly provided at four feeding stations where cod formed distinct “herds” (herd cod) that did not mingle much with the rest of the unconditioned cod in the fjord (wild cod). Several parameters (stomach fullness, liver index (fat reserves), condition factor, and growth rate) indicated that food intake was much greater in herd cod than in wild cod. In August, when the thermocline was well established, the herd cod remained in shallow (15–35 m) and warm water (8–10 °C), whereas the wild cod stayed in deep (80–90 m) and cold water (3–4 °C), but occasionally both groups explored depths and temperatures outside their preferred range. After vertical mixing in autumn when thermoregulation was not possible, the depth difference between the two groups decreased significantly.


2008 ◽  
Vol 154 (5) ◽  
pp. 823-832 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. A. Copeman ◽  
C. C. Parrish ◽  
R. S. Gregory ◽  
J. S. Wells

1996 ◽  
Vol 199 (6) ◽  
pp. 1295-1309 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Nelson ◽  
Y Tang ◽  
R Boutilier

The objective of this study was to determine whether differences in exercise physiology between Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) populations from different salinity environments could be changed by acclimating individuals of each population to the natural salinity of the comparison population. The exercise-associated blood chemistry of cod from the brackish Bras d'Or lakes, which had previously been shown to be quite different from that of 'open-ocean' cod, changed to resemble the blood chemistry of their oceanic relatives after only 2 months of acclimation to full-strength salinity. In contrast, the blood chemistry of cod from the Scotian Shelf of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean showed little change after 2 months of acclimation to brackish water. These results demonstrate that the degree of osmoconformity to changes in environmental salinity is a population-specific not a species-specific trait. The blood chemistry differences between populations and salinities did not translate into differences in exercise performance: i.e. critical swimming speeds were statistically uniform across all combinations of population and salinity, although performance was more varied in fish swimming in 'non-native' waters. Other 'whole-animal' physiological characteristics, such as metabolic rate and the aerobic cost of transport, were dependent upon both population origin and the environmental salinity. Vigorous swimming was more energetically expensive at full-strength salinity than at 20 salinity, yet estimates of standard (i.e. resting) metabolic rate were lower for full-strength salinity. Environmental salinity also influenced the relative appearance of lactate and metabolic acid in the extracellular fluid compartment, with full-strength salinity favouring the relative appearance of lactate in the blood. Multivariate statistical analyses of this data set showed that, in contrast to other fish species and studies, differences in blood oxygen transport appear to account for some of the swimming performance differences seen in Atlantic cod at 2 °C. The two experimental populations were cleanly separated by a principal components analysis, regardless of the salinity to which they were acclimated, confirming our earlier contention that these cod populations are physiologically distinct. A key feature of that distinctness is the greater phenotypic plasticity exhibited by the population from the more euryhaline, more eurythermal environment.


1999 ◽  
Vol 202 (15) ◽  
pp. 2111-2120 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.F. Galloway ◽  
E. Kjorsvik ◽  
H. Kryvi

The present study describes the development of the axial musculature in first-feeding larvae of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.) with different somatic growth rates achieved by using different nutritional conditions. Muscle growth was assessed by determining the number of muscle fibres (hyperplasia) and the growth of existing fibres (hypertrophy). Larvae were fed rotifers containing a high (1. 4; treatment 1) or low (0.2; treatment 2) ratio of docosahexaenoic acid to eicosapentaenoic acid from day 5 after hatching. From day 17, the larvae were fed Artemia nauplii with the same enrichment in both treatments. Treatment 1 gave the highest somatic growth rate and hence the highest dry mass at the end of the experiment, but no difference in larval standard length was found between treatments. In slow-growing larvae, higher priority was thus put into reaching a certain length than into increasing muscle mass. The largest fibres, which were present from hatching, increased in cross-sectional area during larval development, but no differences were found between treatments in the cross-sectional area of individual fibres or the total cross-sectional area of these fibres at the end of the experiment. The first white recruitment fibres were observed at the dorsal and ventral apices of the myotome at approximately the onset of first feeding (larval length 4.5 mm). In larvae 8.5 mm long, the total cross-sectional area of white muscle fibres in the treatment 2 group was 75 % of that in the treatment 1 group. The highest somatic growth rate was associated with an increased contribution of hyperplasia to axial white muscle growth. In the faster-growing larval group, the relative contribution of hyperplasia to the total white muscle cross-sectional area was 50 %, whereas it was 41 % in the slower-growing larval group. The subsequent growth potential may thus be negatively affected by inadequate larval feeding.


2005 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 419-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian A Johnston ◽  
Marguerite Abercromby ◽  
Øivind Andersen

Growth of fast myotomal muscle in teleosts involves the continuous production of muscle fibres until some genetically pre-determined length. The dwarf landlocked (Bleke) population of Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar L.) from Byglands-fjord, Southern Norway mature at about 25 cm fork length and reach a maximum size of only 30 cm in the wild. The maximum diameter ( D max ) of fast muscle fibres in 4-year-old Bleke salmon (25–28 cm fork length) was 118 μm and not significantly different from that found in immature migratory salmon of a similar size. In contrast no evidence for active fibre recruitment was found in the Bleke salmon, such that the maximum fibre number, FN max , was only 21–30% of that reported in typical farmed and wild migratory populations, respectively. We hypothesise that, once established, the physiological consequences of the dwarf condition led to rapid selection for reduced fibre number, possibly to reduce the maintenance costs associated with ionic homeostasis.


1999 ◽  
Vol 56 (11) ◽  
pp. 2069-2077 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Planque ◽  
T Frédou

Variability in the recruitment of fish has been attributed to either changes in the environment or variations in the size of reproductive stocks. Disentangling the effects of environment and stock has proven to be problematic and has resulted in recurrent controversy between studies supporting either hypothesis. In the present study, we examine the relationship between interannual changes in temperature and variation in recruitment for nine Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) stocks in the North Atlantic. We show that for individual stocks, the relationship often appears weak and statistically not significant. On the other hand, by combining in a single metaanalysis the results from individual stocks, we demonstrate that recruitment of Atlantic cod is linked to interannual fluctuations in temperature in such a way that for stocks located in warm water the relationship is negative, for stocks located in cold water the relationship is positive, and there is no relationship for stocks located in the middle of the temperature range.


1966 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 1063-1081 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. A. MacCallum ◽  
E. J. Laishley ◽  
W. J. Dyer ◽  
D. R. Idler

Taste panel assessment is reported for Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) frozen once and twice, and stored at −23 C. The fish were bled, gutted, and iced immediately after capture, and frozen as fillets or dressed fish before, during, and after rigor mortis. Dressed fish were thawed later in recirculated tap water, then processed, refrozen, and stored as fillets. The procedure was conducted three times (June 27, July 19, July 30) during the inshore trap fishery and twice (March and October) during the offshore Grand Bank fishery.For trap-caught landings, the quality of the stored fillets frozen once depended upon the season of catch; for Grand Bank cod, upon the time and place of catching. Trap fish, feeding lightly, caught in cold water in June, were of best quality, grades equalling 70 and over after 20 weeks storage. Those caught on July 30 while feeding heavily in warm water were second; the July 19 fish, obtained under nearly similar conditions, were not significantly poorer than those taken on July 30 and were still acceptable. March landings of Grand Bank fish, once frozen, scored over 70 after 20 weeks storage; October landings only 40 (borderline quality) after 30 weeks. Physiochemical and chemical assessment confirmed the poor quality of the latter.Thawing, refreezing, and storage of June trap fish longer than a few weeks resulted in poor but still acceptable samples. The stored product was soon similar in quality to samples prepared from July landings. In contrast, twice-frozen samples prepared from the March landings from the Grand Bank continued to score high, 70 after 28 weeks storage. Refrozen October samples from the Grand Bank yielded much lower scores, similar to those given the once-frozen samples of the same catch. Thus, in general, an acceptable or better twice-frozen product was obtained by starting with material well handled and quickly chilled, from either the inshore or offshore fishery.


1994 ◽  
Vol 51 (9) ◽  
pp. 1959-1966 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda L. Brooker ◽  
Doug Cook ◽  
Paul Bentzen ◽  
Jonathan M. Wright ◽  
Roger W. Doyle

Microsatellites, in particular (dG-dT)n and (dG-dA)n dinucleotide repeats, are abundant and display a high degree of length polymorphism and heterozygosity in eukaryotic genomes. Here, we report the cloning and characterization of 64 microsatellite sequences from Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua. The microsatellites were classified as perfect, imperfect, and compound repeats. The length and integrity of these repeats were compared with microsatellites characterized from two other teleosts, rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), and from three mammalian genomes, human, porcine, and canine. Differences were found in the proportions of the repeat classes; however, the most significant difference between microsatellites from teleost fishes and mammals was the propensity of the former to be of greater length: some cod and rainbow trout microsatellites were more than twice the size of the longest microsatellite repeats reported for any mammalian genome. Primers for PCR amplification were constructed for seven of the cod microsatellites. Allele frequencies, degree of polymorphism, and heterozygosity were estimated for a sample population. Amplification with these cod primers was also carried out on a number of related gadids. These polymorphic microsatellite loci have enormous potential utility as genetic markers for use in population, breeding, and evolutionary studies.


2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 20141032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca E. Holt ◽  
Christian Jørgensen

The difference between maximum metabolic rate and standard metabolic rate is referred to as aerobic scope, and because it constrains performance it is suggested to constitute a key limiting process prescribing how fish may cope with or adapt to climate warming. We use an evolutionary bioenergetics model for Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua ) to predict optimal life histories and behaviours at different temperatures. The model assumes common trade-offs and predicts that optimal temperatures for growth and fitness lie below that for aerobic scope; aerobic scope is thus a poor predictor of fitness at high temperatures. Initially, warming expands aerobic scope, allowing for faster growth and increased reproduction. Beyond the optimal temperature for fitness, increased metabolic requirements intensify foraging and reduce survival; oxygen budgeting conflicts thus constrain successful completion of the life cycle. The model illustrates how physiological adaptations are part of a suite of traits that have coevolved.


1998 ◽  
Vol 201 (19) ◽  
pp. 2779-2789 ◽  
Author(s):  
DM Webber ◽  
RG Boutilier ◽  
SR Kerr

Adult Atlantic cod (2 kg Gadus morhua) were fitted with Doppler ultrasonic flow-probes to measure ventral aortic outflow (i.e. cardiac output). The probes remained patent for upwards of 3 months, during which time detailed relationships between cardiac output (), heart rate (fh) and rate of oxygen consumption (O2) were determined as a function of swimming speed and temperature (5 degreesC and 10 degreesC). The rate of oxygen consumption increased linearly with and exponentially with swimming speed. A very good correlation was observed between O2 and (r2=0.86) compared with the correlation between O2 and fh (r2=0.50 for all 10 degreesC data and r2=0.86 for all 5 degreesC data). However, the O2 versus fh correlation gradually improved over approximately 1 week after surgery (r2=0.86). The relationship between O2 and was independent of temperature, while the relationship between O2 and fh changed with temperature. Hence, calculating O2 from is simpler and does not require that temperature be recorded simultaneously. Variations in cardiac output were determined more by changes in stroke volume (Vs) than by fh; therefore, fh was a less reliable predictor of metabolic rate than was . Given that can be used to estimate O2 so faithfully, the advent of a cardiac output telemeter would enable robust estimates to be made of the activity metabolism of free-ranging fish in nature, thereby strengthening one of the weakest links in the bioenergetic models of fisheries biology.


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