The Effects of Low-Speed Swimming following Exhaustive Exercise on Metabolic Recovery and Swimming Performance in Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis)

Abstract

Experiments were conducted to determine whether low-speed swimming during recovery from exhaustive exercise improved both metabolic recovery and performance during a swimming challenge. For these experiments, brook trout were allowed to recover from exhaustive exercise for 2 h while swimming at 0, 0.5, 1.0, or 1.5 body length (BL) s(-1) or allowed to recover from exhaustive exercise for 1, 2, or 3 h while swimming at 1.0 BL s(-1). At the appropriate interval, either (i) muscle and blood samples were removed from the fish or (ii) fish were assessed for performance (i.e., fatigue time) during a fixed-interval swimming test. Low-speed swimming during recovery from exhaustive exercise resulted in significantly longer fatigue times compared with fish recovering in still water (i.e., 0 BL s(-1)). However, swimming during recovery did not expedite recovery of muscle lactate or blood variables (e.g., lactate, osmolarity, glucose). These observations suggest that metabolic recovery and subsequent swimming performance may not be directly linked and that other factors play a role in swimming recovery in brook trout.

Oxygen uptake in Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp.: when ecology and physiology meet

“…Individuals can often be observed recovering in back eddies and pools after traversing difficult barriers or after failing to traverse a difficult barrier before attempting again (Brett, ). Therefore, an important observation is that Pacific salmonids do not have to fully recover physiologically between repetitive swim tests (Kieffer et al , ; Eliason et al , 2013 a ) in order to achieve an excellent repeat swim performance (Farrell et al , , ; Jain et al , ; Lee et al , 2003 b ; MacNutt et al , ; Wagner et al , ; Eliason et al , 2013 a ). Furthermore, moderate swimming following exhaustive exercise can improve swim performance in subsequent swimming tests in O .…”

“…mykiss and S . fontinalis (Milligan et al , ; Kieffer et al , ), and can accelerate recovery in wild O . kisutch after capture with commercial fishing gear (Farrell et al , ).…”

“…kisutch after capture with commercial fishing gear (Farrell et al , ). The mechanisms that accelerate recovery are poorly understood, but may involve cortisol dynamics or oxygen delivery improvements (Milligan et al , ; Kieffer et al , ).…”

Evaluation of a simple technique for recovering fish from capture stress: integrating physiology, biotelemetry, and social science to solve a conservation problem

“…Most early studies measured recovery in static (i.e., no velocity) water, but Milligan et al (2000) found that when rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) recovered in flowing water with a constant low-velocity current (i.e., 0.9 body lengths per second), complete metabolic recovery was much quicker (ϳ2 h) relative to static water recovery. Subsequent work suggests that low-speed swimming during recovery from exhaustive exercise can improve swim performance in subsequent swimming tests in juvenile salmonids (Kieffer et al 2011).…”

“…A revival box (i.e., Fraser Box) used on board a commercial gill net boat that jetted seawater towards confined individual fish promoted rapid physiological recovery within 1-2 h, restored swimming ability, and improved survival even for fish that appeared moribund at capture (Farrell et al 2001a). The general physiological principle involved in these studies is that recovery is facilitated by assisted gill ventilation by ramming water velocity into the mouth and across the gills of recovering fish and (or) maintaining steady swimming during the recovery process, although recent work by Kieffer et al (2011) suggests that the former may be the more likely mechanism. The marine studies by Farrell et al (2001aFarrell et al ( , 2001b involved large vessel-based apparatus, and survival was determined by observing fish in net pens for 24 h. There have been no investigations of this kind in freshwater environments or with recovery gear that is more portable and thus could be used by recreational salmon fishers, despite recent findings for delayed mortality of fish released following angling capture (Donaldson et al 2011).…”