The effect of progressive hypoxia on swimming activity and schooling in Atlantic herring

Paolo Domenici, John Fleng Steffensen, Robert S Batty

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

78 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Schools of herring exposed to progressive hypoxia show a peak in velocity during severe hypoxia, at 15-34% oxygen saturation, followed by a decrease in swimming speed until school disruption occurred. The observed increase in swimming speed during severe hypoxia reveals a graded response, since the lower the fish's swimming speed prior to severe hypoxia (U95-50, the speed at oxygen saturations between 95 and 50%), the greater the relative increase in swimming speed. The oxygen saturations at which both peak velocity and school disruption occurred were lower for fish with lowest U95-50, suggesting that the fish with the slowest speed U95-50, reach their critical P-O2 (at which there is respiratory distress) last, i.e. at lower oxygen saturation. At a functional level, it is suggested that herring encountering hypoxia increase their speed in order to find more favourable conditions, and the magnitude of this increase is modulated by their respiratory distress. It is also hypothesised that the observed increase in speed may be related to an increase in the rate of position shifting within the school. Since the oxygen saturation at which the response to hypoxia occurs and the magnitude of the response are related to the fish's preferred speed prior to severe hypoxia, it is suggested that such a preferred speed should be measured in experiments testing the effect of hypoxia on fish behaviour. (C) 2000 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1526-1538
Number of pages13
JournalJ FISH BIOL
Volume57
Issue number6
Publication statusPublished - 2000

Keywords

  • BEHAVIOR
  • Marine & Freshwater Biology
  • Fisheries
  • TROUT
  • SPEEDS
  • RESPONSES
  • FISH SCHOOLS
  • DISSOLVED-OXYGEN CONCENTRATION
  • PERFORMANCE
  • CARBON-DIOXIDE

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