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Relationship of environmental pCO 2 to selected blood parameters of Oncorhynchus kisutch (Walbaum)
Author(s) -
Bubien J. K.,
Meade T. L.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
journal of fish biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1095-8649
pISSN - 0022-1112
DOI - 10.1111/j.1095-8649.1979.tb03615.x
Subject(s) - bicarbonate , oncorhynchus , carbon dioxide , biology , acclimatization , fish <actinopterygii> , zoology , environmental chemistry , ecology , fishery , chemistry , endocrinology
Blood samples from sub‐adult coho salmon ( Oncorhynchus kisutch ) were correlated with environmental conditions. Carbon dioxide tensions, pH and bicarbonate levels were determined in the blood for fish acclimated to environmental pCO 2 levels of 2.49 and 2.74 mmHg. Fish were removed from the high pCO 2 environment and placed in one with a low pCO 2 . Their blood pH and pCO 2 were monitored during the course of acclimation. After 27 days of acclimation to a low pCO 2 environment, a group of fish was sampled and compared to a group of fish acclimated to a high pCO 2 environment. It was found that pCO 2 in the environment affects the rate of diffusion of carbon dioxide from the blood to the water. Under the environmental conditions prescribed in these experiments no significant change in bicarbonate was noticed. It is postulated that a bicarbonate chloride exchange is not a major pathway for the removal of carbon dioxide from the blood of O. kisutch .