Thermal dependence of cardiac function in Arctic fish: implications of a warming world

With the Arctic experiencing one of the greatest and most rapid increases in sea temperatures in modern time, predicting how Arctic marine organisms will respond to elevated temperatures has become crucial for conservation biology. Here, we examined the thermal sensitivity of cardiorespiratory performance for three closely related species of sculpins that inhabit the Arctic waters, two of which, Gymnocanthus tricuspis and Myoxocephalus scorpioides, have adapted to a restricted range within the Arctic, whereas the third species, Myoxocephalus scorpius, has a wider distribution. We tested the hypothesis that the fish restricted to Arctic cold waters would show reduced cardiorespiratory scope in response to an increase in temperature, as compared with the more eurythermal M. scorpius. As expected from their biogeography, M. scorpioides and G. tricuspis maximised cardiorespiratory performance at temperatures between 1 and 4°C, whereas M. scorpius maximised performance over a wider range of temperatures (1-10°C). Furthermore, factorial scope for cardiac output collapsed at elevated temperature for the two high-latitude species, negatively impacting their ability to support aerobically driven metabolic processes. Consequently, these results concurred with our hypothesis, suggesting that the sculpin species restricted to the Arctic are likely to be negatively impacted by increases in ocean temperatures.