scholarly journals Influence of seasonal temperature on the repeat swimming performance of rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss

2003 ◽  
Vol 206 (20) ◽  
pp. 3569-3579 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. E. Jain
1998 ◽  
Vol 55 (7) ◽  
pp. 1583-1590 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Ryan Gregory ◽  
Chris M Wood

Variation among individuals in specific growth rate (SGR), feeding, and two measures of swimming performance and their possible interrelationships were investigated in juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) kept in groups on either satiation or half-satiation rations. Maximum sustainable velocity (Ucrit) was measured as an index of aerobic swimming performance and stamina (fatigue time in a fixed-velocity test at 6 body lengths ·s-1) as an index of anaerobic performance. Individual performance in both of these tests was found to be significantly repeatable. Trout fed on half-satiation ration exhibited significantly lower mean values of SGR and body size and higher levels of aggression-related fin damage, but no significant differences in stamina, relative or absolute Ucrit, glycogen content, or plasma cortisol. However, in these fish, there was a significant negative relationship between SGR and relative Ucrit, a significant positive relationship between SGR and stamina, and a significant positive relationship between SGR and total daily meal. None of these relationships were seen in fish fed to satiation. Plasma cortisol and tissue glycogen stores were not related to SGR. These results indicate that under the intensified competition of restricted ration, there are trade-offs between growth, feeding, and different types of swimming performance.


1994 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 536-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rod W. Wilson ◽  
Harold L. Bergman ◽  
Chris M. Wood

Juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss, 5–13 g) were chronically exposed to sublethal Al (38 μg∙L−1) in acidified soft water (Na+ = 85, Ca2+ = 28 μEq∙L−1, pH 5.2–5.4) for 36 d. Acclimation (increased resistance to challenge with 162 μg Al∙L−1 Al at pH 5.2) occurred after 5 d and was associated with a fourfold increase in gill mucous cell density and reduction in apparent lamellar surface area; initially elevated blood–water diffusion distances returned to normal after 34 d, but the reduction in apparent surface area persisted. Chronic exposure to acid alone (pH 5.2, same water chemistry) caused no morphometric changes but resulted in persistent impairment of Ucrit (critical aerobic swimming speed) by about 10%. This was due to increased oxygen requirements at subcritical swimming speeds (loading stress) and was alleviated when trout were swum at pH 6.5 (zero Al) on day 36. In trout preexposed to sublethal Al, Ucrit was chronically impaired by approximately 16% due to loading stresses and reduction in the maximum rate of oxygen uptake, Mo2max (limiting stress); Ucrit and Mo2max remained depressed even when fish were swum at pH 6.5 (zero Al). Reduced gill area compromises the aerobic scope for activity but may be an unavoidable cost of acclimation to Al.


1994 ◽  
Vol 192 (1) ◽  
pp. 299-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Wilson ◽  
S Egginton

Levels of swimming activity in fishes have been divided into three categories on the basis of the time a given speed can be maintained before the onset of fatigue (Beamish, 1978): sustained (more than 200 min), prolonged (20 s to 200 min) and burst swimming (less than 20 s). The locomotory capacity of a given species reflects both its lifestyle and its body form, although definitions of performance may vary. It is generally accepted that only the aerobic ('red') muscle fibres should be active at truly sustainable swimming speeds, i.e. at speeds that can be maintained indefinitely without fatigue. However, the standard laboratory method of evaluating the maximum sustainable swimming speed (Ucrit; Brett, 1964) almost certainly entails the recruitment of at least some of the rapidly fatigable fast glycolytic ('white') fibres at sub-critical speeds and undoubtedly complicates the evaluation of maximal cardiovascular performance. It would therefore be useful to have an objective and reproducible measure of truly sustainable performance that, by definition, relies solely on aerobic muscle activity. Electromyography (EMG) has been used to examine the pattern of white muscle recruitment following thermal acclimation in striped bass, Morine saxatilis (Sisson and Sidell, 1987). We wished to incorporate this method into a study of the acclimatory responses to chronic changes in environmental temperature of the cardiovascular and locomotory systems in rainbow trout (Wilson and Egginton, 1992). The present communication presents results on the cardiovascular performance and blood chemistry, at rest and during maximal aerobic exercise, of rainbow trout acclimated to 11 °C, as a validation of the methodology currently in use with fish acclimated to seasonal temperature extremes (Taylor et al. 1992). Different acclimation temperatures are known to produce compensatory changes in the relative proportions of red and white muscle mass (Sidell and Moerland, 1989). The aim of these continuing investigations is to compare the anatomical, cardiovascular and locomotory limitations to aerobic exercise over the full temperature range of a eurythermal fish species.


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