Antarctic fish can survive prolonged exposure to elevated temperatures

• Published in: Journal of Fish Biology
• Main Authors: Robinson, E., Davison, W.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2008
• Subjects: Antarctic; McMurdo Sound; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8649.2008.02041.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1095-8649.2008.02041.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1095-8649.2008.02041.x

The Antarctic notothenioid Pagothenia borchgrevinki was collected from the stenothermal waters of McMurdo Sound in the summers of 2004, 2005 and 2006. Acclimation ability at 4° C was tested in healthy P. borchgrevinki and in individuals infected with x‐cell gill disease. All healthy fish successfully acclimated to 4° C, establishing compensatory changes in resting oxygen consumption rate ( R rest ) and critical swimming speed ( U crit ) during a 1 month acclimation period, which were maintained during a longer, 6 month acclimation period. In contrast, individuals infected with x‐cell disease were unable to acclimate to 4° C, demonstrating significantly reduced survival rates compared with healthy individuals at 4° C. Measurements of R rest suggest that limitations in the ability of x‐cell fish to uptake oxygen from the external milieu may have a negative effect on their survival at 4° C.