Synopsis
During gestation, live-bearing fishes incur physiological energy costs, including provision of energy and respiratory gases to the developing embryos and removal of waste products. Fecundity in the genusSebastes is high, and the ovaries represent a significant portion of the weight of gestating females. In this study, we compare oxygen consumption of gestating females with non-gestating females and males of kurosoi,Sebastes schlegeli, to estimate these costs. Oxygen consumption by pregnant females is significantly higher than that of males and immature females at similar sizes and weights. We estimate that a 1.5 kg gestating female consumes 68% more oxygen than a non-gestating fish during the 51.5-day period of gestation. Such an increase in oxygen consumption rates may have important implications to the metabolic scope of gestating alone, suggesting that costs of increased gill ventilation, ionic and osmotic regulation and cardiac output are relatively high. Such energetic costs represent a quantifiable expense of the viviparous mode of reproduction inSebastes as compared with oviparous species.
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Boehlert, G.W., Kusakari, M. & Yamada, J. Oxygen consumption of gestating femaleSebastes schlegeli: Estimating the reproductive costs of livebearing. Environ Biol Fish 30, 81–90 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02296879
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02296879