Temperature tolerance in the goldfish, Carassius auratus

1. Lower and upper temperature tolerances of 240 goldfish, Carassius auratus, were measured at constant acclimation temperatures of 5, 15, 25 and 35degreesC via critical thermal methodology. 2. Mean critical thermal minima and maxima ranged from 0.3 to 12.6degreesC and 30.8 to 43.6degreesC, respectively, and were significantly linearly related to acclimation temperature. Acclimation temperature accounted for approximately 90% of the variance in temperature tolerance. Ultimate critical thermal minimum and maximum equaled 0.3 and 43.6degreesC, respectively. 3. Integrating the temperature tolerance polygon yielded an area of temperature tolerance of 1429degreesC(2), which is approximately 17% larger than the polygon measured via the incipient lethal temperature approach. This difference is explained by methodological differences in these two techniques to quantify temperature tolerance. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.