spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
 QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Temple, G. K.
Right arrow Articles by Johnston, I. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Temple, G. K.
Right arrow Articles by Johnston, I. A.

Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 201, Issue 3 317-331, Copyright © 1998 by Company of Biologists


JOURNAL ARTICLES

Testing hypotheses concerning the phenotypic plasticity of escape performance in fish of the family Cottidae

G. K. Temple and I. A. Johnston

A knowledge of the natural history of two species of marine Cottidae was used to construct a set of complex a priori hypotheses to test the idea that seasonal temperature acclimation conferred a fitness advantage and to examine whether acclimation responses were constant through development. The species studied were the short-horn sculpin (Myoxocephalus scorpius L.) and the long-spined sea scorpion (Taurulus bubalis Euphr.). Fast-start escape performance was measured as a proxy of fitness, and maximum body-length-specific speed (Umax) and acceleration (Amax), and angular velocity (max) and cumulative turning angle (CTA) were quantified. Fish were acclimated to 5, 15 and 20 °C and filmed using high-speed cinematography at 0.8, 5.0, 15.0 and 20.0 °C. The following hypotheses were tested: (1) improvements in escape performance following acclimation to high temperature in adult short-horn sculpin that live offshore would involve a trade-off in performance at low temperature, (2) the escape response of the sea scorpion, which experiences large daily temperature variation, would exhibit low thermal sensitivity and be unchanged by acclimation between 5 and 15 °C, and (3) in short-horn sculpin, the ability to acclimate maximum speed thermally is acquired during ontogeny in parallel with the offshore migration of the late juvenile stage. At 20.0 °C, in adult short-horn sculpin, Umax and Amax were 110 % and 55 % higher, respectively, in 15 °C- than in 5 °C-acclimated fish. No evidence was obtained for improved fast-start performance at 0.8 °C or 5.0 °C following cold acclimation. In the long-spined sea scorpion, acclimation to 5 and 15 °C did not improve Umax or Amax compared with fish acutely exposed to these temperatures, although acclimation to 5 °C increased max (P=0.005). When tested over the most extreme thermal range found in the field, all variables were improved at a test temperature of 0.8 °C in 5 °C- compared with 15 °C-acclimated sea scorpion. Acclimation therefore appeared to be beneficial in some instances in both species. How this affects relative fitness is uncertain. The scaling of Umax with acclimation to 5 and 15 °C was examined in both species over the test range 5.0-15.0 °C. Temperature acclimation did not affect scaling relationships of Umax in long-spined sea scorpion ranging in total body length (L) from 45 to 160 mm. At a test temperature of 15.0 °C, the scaling of Umax for short-horn sculpin ranging in total body length from 43 to 270 mm changed from aL-0.98 in 5 °C-acclimated fish to aL-0.50 (where a is the proportionality coefficient in the regression equation) in 15 °C-acclimated fish (P<0.01). In short-horn sculpin, therefore, the ability to modify escape performance with temperature acclimation was found to vary during ontogeny, potentially paralleling a migration from a more variable to a more stable thermal environment.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
J. Exp. Biol.Home page
I. A. Johnston
Environment and plasticity of myogenesis in teleost fish
J. Exp. Biol., June 15, 2006; 209(12): 2249 - 2264.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Exp. Biol.Home page
H. Guderley and J. St-Pierre
Going with the flow or life in the fast lane: contrasting mitochondrial responses to thermal change
J. Exp. Biol., August 1, 2002; 205(15): 2237 - 2249.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Exp. Biol.Home page
I. A. Johnston and G. K. Temple
Thermal plasticity of skeletal muscle phenotype in ectothermic vertebrates and its significance for locomotory behaviour
J. Exp. Biol., August 1, 2002; 205(15): 2305 - 2322.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Am. J. Physiol. Regul. Integr. Comp. Physiol.Home page
J. M. Wakeling, N. J. Cole, K. M. Kemp, and I. A. Johnston
The biomechanics and evolutionary significance of thermal acclimation in the common carp Cyprinus carpio
Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, August 1, 2000; 279(2): R657 - R665.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Exp. Biol.Home page
R. Wilson, C. Franklin, and R. James
Allometric scaling relationships of jumping performance in the striped marsh frog Limnodynastes peronii
J. Exp. Biol., January 6, 2000; 203(12): 1937 - 1946.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Home page
J. Exp. Biol.Home page
J. Wakeling, K. Kemp, and I. Johnston
The biomechanics of fast-starts during ontogeny in the common carp cyprinus carpio
J. Exp. Biol., January 11, 1999; 202(22): 3057 - 3067.
[Abstract] [PDF]




© The Company of Biologists Ltd 1998