1/30/2020 The metabolic demand for oxygen in fish, particularly salmonids, and a comparison with other vertebrates - ScienceDirect

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Respiration Physiology
Volume 14, Issues 1–2, March 1972, Pages 151-170

The metabolic demand for oxygen in fish, particularly salmonids, and a

comparison with other vertebrates ☆
J.R. Brett
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https://doi.org/10.1016/0034-5687(72)90025-4 Get rights and content

Abstract

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Active metabolic rates of fish show a five-fold difference between species. Maximum oxygen consumption rates
reach about 1000 ± 200 mg O2/kg/hr (700 ± 140 cc O2/kg/hr) which is comparable with, if not greater than, that for
most amphibians and reptiles. In the weight range of 3 to 30 g, mammals
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and never expend energy
track of at aagain.
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sustained rate of about 10 to 100 times that of active fish like salmon.

Register
Small mammals operate on a minimum transport metabolic rate of about for free
50 to 100 times>the routine (transport)
rate of salmon. However, estimation of the momentary demand for oxygen during anaerobic, burst performance
of a 100-gram salmon approximates the aerobic, transport metabolic rate of a mammal of corresponding weight.

The respiratory-circulatory complex of salmon appears to have evolved to meet the demands placed on it during
migration; other daily requirements average no more than one-half that of the metabolic demand for upstream
migration.

In those exceptional species of fish which have evolved deep muscle homeothermy no great increase in oxygen
uptake over other fast-swimming species can be expected. Aerial respiration alone, in amphibians and reptiles,
was not accompanied by any particular increase in O2-consumption rate over that of fish, despite the liberation
from a highly restrictive respiratory medium. It is concluded that among many factors which accompanied the
respiratory evolution of vertebrates the coupling of aerial respiration with homeothermy permitted the immense
increase in the ability of vertebrates to consume oxygen.

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Keywords
Aerial respiration; Maximal O2 uptake; Aquatic respiration; Routine O2 uptake; Homeothermy; Salmon

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