Journal
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
Volume 219, Issue 12, Pages 1804-1807Publisher
COMPANY OF BIOLOGISTS LTD
DOI: 10.1242/jeb.136358
Keywords
COT; Elasmobranch; Locomotion; Metabolic rate; Performance
Categories
Funding
- Office of Naval Research Multidisciplinary University Research Initiatives (MURI) grant [141410533]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
We quantify the oxygen consumption rates and cost of transport (COT) of a benthic batoid fish, the little skate, Leucoraja erinacea, at three swimming speeds. We report that this species has the lowest mass-adjusted swimming metabolic rate measured for any elasmobranch; however, this species incurs a much higher COT at approximately five times the lowest values recorded for some teleosts. In addition, because skates lack a propulsive caudal fin and could not sustain steady swimming beyond a relatively low optimum speed of 1.25 body lengths s(-1), we propose that the locomotor efficiency of benthic rajiform fishes is limited to the descending portion of a single COT-speed relationship. This renders these species poorly suited for long-distance translocation and, therefore, especially vulnerable to regional-scale environmental disturbances.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available