The feasibility of using a differential pressure sensor connected to an acoustic telemetry device to monitor opercular activity as a correlate of oxygen consumption was investigated. Four starry flounders Platichthys stellatus were fitted with a miniature differential pressure sensor mounted close to the operculum. A cannula was connected to the sensor and inserted under the operculum, inside the branchial cavity. Measurements of oxygen consumption and opercular activity were carried out over a broad range of metabolic activity, from the post-surgery stress (high metabolic rate) to routine metabolic rate the following day. Relationships between differential pressure changes (rate and amplitude) were highly correlated with oxygen consumption (r 2 ¼ 0Á74 and 0Á60 respectively). The results indicate that monitoring opercular activity offers an alternative method for measuring aerobic metabolism in free-swimming fishes in nature.
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