Effect of salinity on the oxygen consumption of larvae of the silversides Odontesthes hatcheri and O. bonariensis (Osteichthyes, Atherinopsidae)

• Autor(a) principal: Tsuzuki,Mônica Yumi
• Data de Publicação: 2008
• Outros Autores: Strüssmann,Carlos Augusto, Takashima,Fumio
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-89132008000300017
• topic: Salinity; respiratory metabolism; euryhaline fish; silversides; Odontesthes hatcheri; Odonthesthes bonariensis

Starved larvae of the silversides O. hatcheri (2- and 5-days-old) and Odontesthes bonariensis (5-days-old) were used to compare the oxygen consumption rates at 0, 5, 10, 20 and 30 ppt salinity. Oxygen consumption of O. hatcheri and O. bonariensis was minimal at 0 and 10 ppt, respectively, salinities close to those encountered in areas inhabited by these fishes. In both species, oxygen consumption rates thereafter increased with increasing salinity, and then abruptly decreased at 30 ppt. Lower consumption at extreme salinities might be a result of reduced activity, which in itself was salinity-modulated. Differences in activity may explain the fact that oxygen consumption rates of 5-day-old larvae were higher than 2-day-old larvae, which still possess yolk-sac. In this case, starved larvae incurred in higher metabolic demand due to the continuous swimming in the search for food.