Oxygen uptake in the Antarctic teleost Pagothenia borchgrevinki. Limitations imposed by X-cell gill disease.
Fish in a population of Pagothenia borchgrevinki in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, are affected by a gill disease (X-cell disease) which causes tissue hyperplasia that results in a decreased gill surface area and an increased water/blood diffusion distance. P. borchgrevinki acquires 95% of its oxygen via the gills, but damage to the gills by X-cell disease did not affect this function. There was no compensatory shift to cutaneous respiration. X-cell disease reduced the ability for oxygen uptake at low ambient PO 2 and the decreased uptake was related to the extent of the disease. O 2 max was greatly reduced in X-cell affected fish and substantially reduced their aerobic potential. This effect may impair the ability of diseased fish to catch prey and avoid predators.
Department of Zoology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
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