Gamperl Anthony Kurt, Porter Emma S, Brooks Amy B
Department of Ocean Sciences, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, St. Johns, NL, A1C 5S7, Canada.
Cape Eleuthera Institute, The Island School, Eleuthera, Bahamas.
Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 25;15(1):14496. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-98638-0.
Small pelagic fishes (e.g., sardines, anchovies and their relatives) are preyed upon by large predatory fishes, birds and mammals, and thus, are key species in marine food webs and with respect to ecosystem health and productivity. However, we know little about their physiology, and such information will be critical to predicting how their populations may be impacted by human-induced rapid environmental change (HIREC) and in implementing effective conservation strategies. As a first step, we determined the maximum swimming speed, aerobic capacity [maximum metabolic rate (MMR) and aerobic scope (AS)] and cost of transport (COT; the energy required to swim a given distance) of scaled sardines (Harengula jaguana) collected in Eleuthera (The Bahamas). The scaled sardine's critical swimming speed (U) was ~ 5-6 body length's per second, and this agrees with data collected on free-swimming schools of similar fishes in the wild. However, they had unexpectedly high values for MMR and AS (~ 25% and 70% greater than tuna, respectively), and for COT. These findings have important implications with regard to how these ecologically important fishes will potentially respond to HIREC-related challenges such as increased temperature and decreases in the biomass and size of plankton upon which they feed.
小型中上层鱼类（如沙丁鱼、凤尾鱼及其同类）是大型掠食性鱼类、鸟类和哺乳动物的猎物，因此是海洋食物网中的关键物种，对于生态系统健康和生产力而言也至关重要。然而，我们对它们的生理学了解甚少，而此类信息对于预测它们的种群数量如何受到人为引起的快速环境变化（HIREC）的影响以及实施有效的保护策略至关重要。作为第一步，我们测定了在巴哈马群岛伊柳塞拉收集的带鳞沙丁鱼（Harengula jaguana）的最大游泳速度、有氧能力[最大代谢率（MMR）和有氧范围（AS）]以及运输成本（COT；游动给定距离所需的能量）。带鳞沙丁鱼的临界游泳速度（U）约为每秒5至6个体长，这与在野外自由游动的类似鱼类群体收集的数据一致。然而，它们的MMR和AS值（分别比金枪鱼高约25%和70%）以及COT却出人意料地高。这些发现对于这些具有重要生态意义的鱼类如何应对与HIREC相关的挑战，如温度升高以及它们所食用的浮游生物生物量和尺寸减小，具有重要意义。
