Relationship between Body Size and Anaerobic Metabolism in Brook Trout and Largemouth Bass

Abstract

The relationship between body size, anaerobic capacity, and white muscle acid‐base and metabolite status was examined for two sizes of brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis and largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides. Resting muscle lactate, pH, HCO3−, and partial pressure of carbon dioxide (Pco2) were size‐independent in brook trout. After exercise, however, there was a significant positive relationship between the accumulation of both lactate and metabolic protons and body size in brook trout. In addition, there was a significant size‐dependent decrease in postexercise muscle pH, with larger trout experiencing a more severe drop in muscle pH. In contrast, the postexercise changes in muscle HCO3− and Pco2 remained size‐independent in trout. Having observed that anaerobic capacity (i.e., lactate production) apparently was affected by body size in trout, we measured the concentrations of two other anaerobic energy reserves—phosphocreatine (PCr) and ATP—in trout white muscle before and after exercise. Under resting conditions, large trout possessed greater concentrations of both ATP and PCr than smaller trout. After exercise, the levels of ATP and PCr decreased in all trout but were size‐dependent and size‐independent, respectively. Under resting conditions, muscle lactate, pH, HCO3−, and Pco2 remained size‐independent in largemouth bass. After exercise, white muscle lactate and metabolic proton concentrations increased and pH decreased in all bass; however, in contrast with brook trout, none of these variables were significantly related to body size. The results of our in vivo experiments therefore agree with the previously documented in vitro relationships between body size and glycolytic enzyme activities in different species of fish. In addition, these results may be important for fisheries management issues, such as catch‐and‐release fishing.

Effectiveness of Livewell Additives on Largemouth Bass Survival

“…Fish appear to have greater long-term survival following tournaments that were conducted when ambient water temperatures were cooler. Further, smaller sized fish appear to be more resilient to tournament-related stressors that result in mortality as compared to larger fishes, regardless of ambient water temperature or livewell additive; they experience less physiological disturbance because they are often played for shorter periods of time and endure shorter periods of air exposure during weigh-in procedures (Kieffer et al 1996;Ostrand et al 1999;Cooke et al 2002). Collectively, these results suggest that the addition of livewell additives does not enhance fish survival following competitive angling events.…”

Rapid Metabolic Recovery Following Vigorous Exercise in Burrow‐Dwelling Larval Sea Lampreys(Petromyzon marinus)

“…In general, metabolic acid production during anaerobic exercise positively scales with body size in active fish such as the rainbow trout (Goolish 1991;Ferguson et al 1993) and brook Kieffer et al 1996). This relationship is probably due to the greater anaerobic energy demands that larger fish are forced to contend with during burst swimming (Goolish 1991).…”

Effect of hypoxia on the prey-handling behaviour of Carcinus maenas feeding on Mytilus edulis

“…Houlihan et al (1984) reported similar effects of hypoxia on the walking performance of Carcinus maenas, and an increased anaerobic scope with increasing body size is also known, for example, in brown trout Salvelinus fontinalis (Kieffer et al 1996) and rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss (Ferguson et al 1993 Table 7. Carcinus maenas, Mytilus edulis.…”