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Temperature Effects On Metabolic Rate Of Juvenile Pacific Bluefin Tuna Thunnus Orientalis, Jason M. Blank, Jeffery M. Morrissette, Charles J. Farwell, Mathew Price, Robert J. Schallert, Barbara A. Block

Biological Sciences

Pacific bluefin tuna inhabit a wide range of thermal environments across the Pacific ocean. To examine how metabolism varies across this thermal range, we studied the effect of ambient water temperature on metabolic rate of juvenile Pacific bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, swimming in a swim tunnel. Rate of oxygen consumption (M_O2) was measured at ambient temperatures of 8–25°C and swimming speeds of 0.75–1.75 body lengths (BL) s^–1. Pacific bluefin swimming at 1 BL s^–1 per second exhibited a U-shaped curve of metabolic rate vs ambient temperature, with a thermal minimum zone between …