Air breathing in the Arctic: influence of temperature, hypoxia, activity and restricted air access on respiratory physiology of the Alaska blackfish Dallia pectoralis.
The Alaska blackfish (Dallia pectoralis) is an air-breathing fish native to Alaska and the Bering Sea islands, where it inhabits lakes that are ice-covered in the winter, but enters warm and hypoxic waters in the summer to forage and reproduce. To understand the respiratory physiology of this species under these conditions and the selective pressures that maintain the ability to breathe air, we acclimated fish to 5°C and 15°C and used respirometry to measure: standard oxygen uptake (Ṁ(O₂)) in normoxia (19.8 kPa P(O₂)) and hypoxia (2.5 kPa), with and without access to air; partitioning of standard Ṁ(O₂) in normoxia and hypoxia; maximum Ṁ(O₂) and partitioning after exercise; and critical oxygen tension (P(crit)). Additionally, the effects of temperature acclimation on haematocrit, haemoglobin oxygen affinity and gill morphology were assessed. Standard Ṁ(O₂) was higher, but air breathing was not increased, at 15°C or after exercise at both temperatures. Fish acclimated to 5°C or 15°C increased air breathing to compensate and fully maintain standard Ṁ(O₂) in hypoxia. Fish were able to maintain Ṁ(O₂) through aquatic respiration when air was denied in normoxia, but when air was denied in hypoxia, standard Ṁ(O₂) was reduced by ∼30-50%. P(crit) was relatively high (5 kPa) and there were no differences in P(crit), gill morphology, haematocrit or haemoglobin oxygen affinity at the two temperatures. Therefore, Alaska blackfish depends on air breathing in hypoxia and additional mechanisms must thus be utilised to survive hypoxic submergence during the winter, such as hypoxia-induced enhancement in the capacities for carrying and binding blood oxygen, behavioural avoidance of hypoxia and suppression of metabolic rate.
Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo 0316, Norway. sjannie.lefevre@imbv.uio.no.
Sjannie
S
Lefevre
Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
Christian
C
Damsgaard
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alaska Anchorage, AK 99508, USA.
Desirae R
DR
Pascale
Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo 0316, Norway.
Göran E
GE
Nilsson
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alaska Anchorage, AK 99508, USA.
Jonathan A W
JA
Stecyk
D000064:Acclimatization; D000413:Alaska; D000818:Animals; D005399:Fishes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D005880:Gills / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D006400:Hematocrit; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D000860:Hypoxia; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D012143:Respiratory Physiological Phenomena; D013696:Temperature
D006454:Hemoglobins; D010100:Oxygen
bimodal respirometry; critical oxygen tension; gill remodelling; haemoglobin oxygen affinity; respiratory partitioning; temperature acclimation