Versuche zur Adaptation der Fische im normalen Temperaturbereich

Abstract

In most teleosts the metabolism of the intact individual and its isolated tissues have the ability for partial compensation. The metabolic rates of fish kept at colder acclimation temperatures are higher than the rates of fish kept for the same time at a higher temperature, when measured at the same test temperature. In this study a similar pattern of temperature acclimation is demonstrated in the golden orfe (Idus idus L.) for the rates of oxygen uptake of excised gill and muscle tissue, the activity of cytochrome oxidase in skeletal muscle, and the activities of aldolase and malic dehydrogenase in gill, liver and muscle homogenates. In contrast, the anaerobic acid production of excised gills and the succinate oxidation in the liver homogenates are not changed in the process of cold acclimation. Treatments with TSH increased the activity of malic dehydrogenase only in the liver of cold-adapted fish. As in the eel (Anguilla vulgaris L.) the metabolic rate of muscle in vitro does not completely reflect the capacity adaptation of the intact fish and, as the latter mainly depends on the temperature conditions of the head, the following parameters of metabolic capacity were estimated: the frequencies of opercular and cardiac cycles, the local oxygen pressure in the dorsal skeletal muscle, the heart cavity and the caudal blood vessels. In addition, structure and oxidative capacity of body muscles were investigated. The frequencies of opercular movements and heart beats were significantly higher for cold-adapted eels; but the local oxygen pressure in the white muscle and the oxygen tension in the arterial blood were independent of adaptation temperature. An analysis of the oxygen pressure in the venous bloodstream, in respect to changing test temperatures and different adaptation conditions, showed a lower oxygen tension in cold-acclimated eels than in warm-acclimated ones. This difference became more pronounced at higher test temperatures, showing a close correlation between breathing rate and the partial pressure of oxygen. The results are discussed in relation to other work on temperature adaptation in the eel. © 1968 Biologischen Anstalt Helgoland.