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Pectoral fin beat frequency predicts oxygen consumption during spontaneous activity in a labriform swimming fish (Embiotoca lateralis)

Environmental Biology of Fishes volume 84, pages 121–127 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify kinematic variables correlated with oxygen consumption during spontaneous labriform swimming. Kinematic variables (swimming speed, change of speed, turning angle, turning rate, turning radius and pectoral fin beat frequency) and oxygen consumption (MO2) of spontaneous swimming in Embiotoca lateralis were measured in a circular arena using video tracking and respirometry, respectively. The main variable influencing MO2 was pectoral fin beat frequency (r 2 = 0.71). No significant relationship was found between swimming speed and pectoral fin beat frequency. Complementary to other methods within biotelemetry such as EMG it is suggested that such correlations of pectoral fin beat frequency may be used to measure the energy requirements of labriform swimming fish such as E. lateralis in the field, but need to be taken with great caution since movement and oxygen consumption patterns are likely to be quite different in field situation compared to a small lab tank. In addition, our methods could be useful to measure metabolic costs of growth and development, or bioassays for possible toxicological effects on fish.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the staff of Friday Harbor Laboratories (FHL), University of Washington and the all participants of the Fish swimming course 2005. This research was approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of the University of Washington (Protocol IACUC #3018-09). Thanks to M.F. Steinhausen for comments on the manuscript. Financial support from FHL, Norwegian Research Council, project 146469/140 (ADJ and JFS), the Danish Fisheries Research Institute DIFRES (JCS) and from the Belgian Science Policy under grant number EV/05/31A (CT) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Ecophysiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020, Antwerp, Belgium

    Christian Tudorache & G. DeBoeck

  2. Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Strandpromenaden 5, 3000, Helsingør, Denmark

    Anders D. Jordan & John F. Steffensen

  3. Department of Inland Fisheries, Danish Institute for Fisheries Research, 8600, Silkeborg, Denmark

    Jon C. Svendsen

  4. CNR-IAMC, Località Sa Mardini, 09027, Torregrande, Oristano, Italy

    Paolo Domenici

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  1. Christian Tudorache
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  2. Anders D. Jordan
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  3. Jon C. Svendsen
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  4. Paolo Domenici
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  5. G. DeBoeck
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  6. John F. Steffensen
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Correspondence to Christian Tudorache.

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Tudorache, C., Jordan, A.D., Svendsen, J.C. et al. Pectoral fin beat frequency predicts oxygen consumption during spontaneous activity in a labriform swimming fish (Embiotoca lateralis). Environ Biol Fish 84, 121–127 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-008-9395-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-008-9395-x

Keywords

  • Embiotoca lateralis
  • Energetics
  • Labriform swimming
  • Metabolism
  • Oxygen consumption
  • Striped surfperch
  • Swimming performance