title: Tuna comparative physiology.
abstract: Thunniform swimming, the capacity to conserve metabolic heat in red muscle and other body regions (regional endothermy), an elevated metabolic rate and other physiological rate functions, and a frequency-modulated cardiac output distinguish tunas from most other fishes. These specializations support continuous, relatively fast swimming by tunas and minimize thermal barriers to habitat exploitation, permitting niche expansion into high latitudes and to ocean depths heretofore regarded as beyond their range.
authors.affiliation: Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine, and Marine Biology Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0204, USA. jgraham@ucsd.edu
authors.forename: Jeffrey B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.forename: Kathryn A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Dickson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D002302:Cardiac Output / Q000502:physiology*; D003710:Demography; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D004777:Environment; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D010802:Phylogeny; D013550:Swimming / Q000502:physiology*; D013696:Temperature; D014413:Tuna / Q000502:physiology*