The influence of thermal parameters on the acclimation responses of pinfish Lagodon rhomboides exposed to static and decreasing low temperatures

Pinfish Lagodon rhomboides acclimation rates were determined by modelling changes in critical thermal minimum ( T crit min , ° C) estimates at set intervals following a temperature decrease of 3–4° C. The results showed that pinfish gained a total of 3·7° C of cold tolerance over a range of acclimation temperatures ( T acc , ° C) from (23–12° C), that cold tolerance increased with exposure time to the reduced temperature at all T acc , but that the rate of cold tolerance accruement (mean 0·14° C day −1 ) was independent of T acc . A highly significant ( P < 0·001) multivariate predictive model was generated that described the acclimation rates and thermal tolerance of pinfish exposed to reduction in water temperature: log 10 T crit min = 0·41597 − 0·01704 T acc + 0·04320 T plunge − 0·08376[log 10 ( t + 1)], where T plunge is plunge temperature (° C) and t is the time (days). A comparison of the present data, with acclimation rate data for other species, suggests that factors such as latitude or geographic range may play a more important role than ambient temperature in determining cold acclimation rates in fishes.