Direct measurements of metabolism, activity and feeding behaviour of pike, Esox Zucius L., in the wild, by the use of heart rate telemetry

Abstract

Heart rate telemetry records of up to 5 days duration were obtained from pike living in Lochs Kinord and Davan, Scotland. Applying metabolic rate correlations it was found that mean metabolic rate (R) was 1.5 times standard metabolic rate (It?), The fish rarely worked near their metabolic limits. Activity metabolism (RJ was much higher than estimates based on mean swimming speed and comprised up to 10% of R. Most activity metabolism was the result of localized bursts of activity. Less than 10% of activity showed evidence of oxygen debt. Specific Dynamic Action or feeding metabolism (R,) comprised 15-25% of R. Food intake estimated from heart rate was 1.5% wet body weight day-', consumed in the form of small items captured during the day and digested during the afternoon and night.

Cardiovascular performance of six species of field-acclimatized centrarchid sunfish during the parental care period

“…Previous studies on cardiac function suggest that life history characters that require extended activity such as a the pelagic lifestyle of the tuna (Farrell, 1991b) or intense activity such as the ambush feeding mode of the pike (Lucas et al, 1991) usually correlate with an evolutionary trend towards frequency modulation. Frequency modulation is thought to be a more efficient means of facilitating rapid changes in Q and thus delivery of oxygen to tissues (Lucas et al, 1991). Because parental care requires heightened and variable activity during an extended period of time, we might expect that fish with extended and intense parental care might also exhibit such cardiac adaptations as we observed.…”

“…Schreer et al, 2001;Cooke et al, 2003b) has revealed that some species within the centrarchid family appear to be cardiac frequency modulators. Frequency modulation has been suggested to be beneficial for delivering oxygen to tissues in species with highly variable activity levels, such as ambush predators (Lucas et al, 1991). Parental care also requires variable activity levels .…”

Influence of ambient oxygenation and temperature on metabolic scope and scope for heart rate in the common sole Solea solea

“…However, heart rate is liable to provide information about the environmental impact on fish physiological state, thereby widening our understanding of the general relationship between fish and their environment (Priede & Young 1977, Priede & Tytler 1977, Armstrong 1986, Lucas et al 1991. Moreover, heart rate is one of the few correlates to metabolic demand that can be monitored in free-swimming fish using telemetry (Armstrong 1986, Bushnell & Brill 1991, Lucas et al 1991, Sureau & Lagardère 1991, Claireaux et al 1995. By examining the influence of ambient temperature and oxygenation on both MS and scope for heart rate, we aimed to design an analytical tool for investigating the ecological relevance of the environmental constraints on sole.…”

The effects of swimming pattern on the energy use of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurataL.)

“…Reliable estimates of oxygen consumption (M O 2 ) of free-swimming fish are important for improving the precision of bioenergetics modelling (Kerr 1982;Boisclair and Leggett 1989;Lucas et al 1991;Ney 1993). It is not possible to measure swimming costs of free-swimming fish directly, but M O 2 can be estimated by monitoring physiological or biomechanical variables correlated with M O 2 .…”