QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by ROME, L. C. Articles by ALEXANDER, R. M. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by ROME, L. C. Articles by ALEXANDER, R. M.

Journal of Experimental Biology 154,163-178 (1970)
Published by Company of Biologists 1970

The Influence of Temperature on Muscle Velocity and Sustained Performance in Swimming Carp

LAWRENCE C. ROME ¹ and R. MCNEILL ALEXANDER ¹

¹ Department of Biology, Leidy Laboratories, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA

The aim of this study was to evaluate how fish locomote at different muscle temperatures. Sarcomere length excursion and muscle shortening velocity, V, were determined from high-speed motion pictures of carp, Cyprinus carpio (11–14 cm), swimming steadily at various sustained speeds at 10, 15 and 20°C. In the middle and posterior regions of the carp, sarcomeres of the lateral red muscle underwent cyclical excursions of 0.31 µm, centred around the resting length of 2.06 µm (i.e. from 1.91 to 2.22 µm). The amplitudes of the sarcomere length excursions were essentially independent of swimming speed and temperature. As tail-beat frequency increased linearly with swimming speed regardless of temperature, the sarcomeres underwent the same length changes in a shorter time. Thus, V increased in a linear and temperature-independent manner with swimming speed. Neither temperature nor swimming speed had an influence on tail-beat amplitude or tail height.

Our findings indicate that muscle fibres are used only over a narrow, temperature-independent range of V/V_max (0.17–0.36) where power and efficiency are maximal. Carp start to recruit their white muscles at swimming speeds where the red muscle V/V_max becomes too high (and thus power output declines). When the V/V_max of the active muscle falls too low during steady swimming, carp switch to ‘burst-and-coast’ swimming, apparently to keep V/V_max high. Because V_max (maximum velocity of shortening) of carp red muscle has a Q₁₀ of 1.63, the transition speeds between swimming styles are lower at lower temperatures. Thus, carp recruit their white anaerobic muscle at a lower swimming speed at lower temperatures (verified by electromyography), resulting in a lower maximum sustainable swimming speed. The present findings also indicate that, to generate the same total force and power to swim at a given speed, carp at 10°C must recruit about 50% greater fibre cross-sectional area than they do at 20°C.

Note:

Present address: Department of Plant Molecular Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.

Present address: Department of Pure and Applied Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, England.

Key words: muscle, sarcomere length, swimming, cyprinus carpio

Accepted on June 14, 1990

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. M. Donley, R. E. Shadwick, C. A. Sepulveda, P. Konstantinidis, and S. Gemballa Patterns of red muscle strain/activation and body kinematics during steady swimming in a lamnid shark, the shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus) J. Exp. Biol., June 15, 2005; 208(12): 2377 - 2387. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. J. Peake and A. P. Farrell Locomotory behaviour and post-exercise physiology in relation to swimming speed, gait transition and metabolism in free-swimming smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) J. Exp. Biol., April 1, 2004; 207(9): 1563 - 1575. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. M. Wooden and G. E. Walsberg Body temperature and locomotor capacity in a heterothermic rodent J. Exp. Biol., January 1, 2004; 207(1): 41 - 46. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. M. Donley and R. E. Shadwick Steady swimming muscle dynamics in the leopard shark Triakis semifasciata J. Exp. Biol., April 1, 2003; 206(7): 1117 - 1126. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. O. Portner Physiological basis of temperature-dependent biogeography: trade-offs in muscle design and performance in polar ectotherms J. Exp. Biol., August 1, 2002; 205(15): 2217 - 2230. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. E. Korsmeyer, J. F. Steffensen, and J. Herskin Energetics of median and paired fin swimming, body and caudal fin swimming, and gait transition in parrotfish (Scarus schlegeli) and triggerfish (Rhinecanthus aculeatus) J. Exp. Biol., May 1, 2002; 205(9): 1253 - 1263. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. A. Dickson, J. M. Donley, C. Sepulveda, and L. Bhoopat Effects of temperature on sustained swimming performance and swimming kinematics of the chub mackerel Scomber japonicus J. Exp. Biol., April 1, 2002; 205(7): 969 - 980. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. J. Ellerby and J. D. Altringham Spatial variation in fast muscle function of the rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss during fast-starts and sprinting J. Exp. Biol., January 7, 2001; 204(13): 2239 - 2250. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. Rome and D. Swank The influence of thermal acclimation on power production during swimming. I. In vivo stimulation and length change pattern of scup red muscle J. Exp. Biol., January 2, 2001; 204(3): 409 - 418. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. Swank and L. Rome The influence of temperature on power production during swimming. I. In vivo length change and stimulation pattern J. Exp. Biol., January 1, 2000; 203(2): 321 - 331. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Katz, R. Shadwick, and H. Rapoport Muscle strain histories in swimming milkfish in steady and sprinting gaits J. Exp. Biol., January 3, 1999; 202(5): 529 - 541. [Abstract] [PDF]