Influence of Dissolved Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide on Swimming Performance of Largemouth Bass and Coho Salmon

Abstract

The final swimming speed of juvenile largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides (Lacépède), was reduced markedly at oxygen concentrations below 5 or 6 mg/liter in tests at 25 C in a tubular chamber in which the velocity of water was increased gradually, at 10-min intervals, until the fish were forced by the current permanently against a screen. At levels above 6 mg/liter, the final swimming speed was virtually independent of the oxygen concentration. The performance of bass that had been acclimated overnight to elevated carbon dioxide levels was not materially affected by the highest tested concentrations of free carbon dioxide, averaging 48 mg/liter, at any tested level of dissolved oxygen.For juvenile coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch (Walbaum), at temperatures near 20 C and carbon dioxide concentrations near 2 mg/liter, any considerable reduction of the oxygen concentration from about 9 mg/liter, the air-saturation level, resulted in some reduction of the final swimming speed. The performance of the salmon was impaired much more markedly than was that of the bass by the same reduction of the oxygen concentration. At oxygen concentrations near and above the air-saturation level, high concentrations of free carbon dioxide averaging 18 and 61 mg/liter had a depressing effect on the final swimming speed of coho salmon even after overnight acclimation. However, this effect decreased at reduced oxygen concentrations. No measurable effect of free carbon dioxide concentrations near 61 mg/liter was evident at 2 mg/liter dissolved oxygen, and concentrations near 18 mg/liter had little or no effect even at moderately reduced dissolved oxygen levels after overnight acclimation of the salmon to these carbon dioxide concentrations.

Comparative Physiology and Relative Swimming Performance of Three Redhorse (Moxostomaspp.) Species: Associations with Fishway Passage Success

“…Since dissolved oxygen concentrations below 75% of air saturation levels have been shown to have negative effects on the swimming ability of some fishes (Dahlberg 1968), measurement cycles were calibrated for different size classes of fish. Fish greater than 1.5 kg were subject to measurement periods of five cycles that consisted of a 2-min measurement phase and 3-min flush phase to replace water in the chamber.…”

The contribution of air breathing to aerobic scope and exercise performance in the banded knifefishGymnotus carapoL.

“…The contribution of M aO2 to M tO2 allowed the knifefish to maintain performance unchanged from their normoxic levels at a degree of aquatic hypoxia that significantly impaired their performance when they were denied access to air. This level of hypoxia would cause profound limitations to U crit and AMR in unimodal water-breathing species (Dahlberg et al, 1968;Bushnell et al, 1984;Jourdan-Pineau et al, 2010). The increased reliance on aerial respiration during exercise in hypoxia was sustained by the pronounced increase in f AB , with fish breathing on average once every 20s.…”

“…In water-breathing fishes, aquatic hypoxia limits their ability to raise metabolic rate (Fry, 1971) and perform aerobic exercise (Dahlberg et al, 1968;Bushnell et al, 1984;Jourdan-Pinet et al,evidence that fish with bimodal respiration may be able to avoid limitations to aerobic scope and exercise performance in aquatic hypoxia by increasing their reliance on aerial oxygen uptake. In M. cyprinoides, a facultative air breather, a combination of aerobic exercise and aquatic hypoxia stimulated aerial respiration more than either factor on its own (Seymour et al, 2004;Seymour et al, 2007).…”

Physiological tradeoffs may underlie the evolution of hypoxia tolerance and exercise performance in sunfish (Centrarchidae)

“…Largemouth bass [Micropterus salmoides (Lacépede 1802)] also appear to be more tolerant of hypoxia than smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu), as largemouth bass maintain higher blood O 2 content in hypoxia and can maintain blood pH at levels of hypoxia that induce a metabolic acidosis in smallmouth bass (Furimsky et al, 2003). Largemouth bass and smallmouth bass are generally good swimmers, with higher sustained swimming performance than both bluegill and pumpkinseed (Brett and Sutherland, 1965;Dahlberg et al, 1968;Kelsch, 1996).…”