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Carbon Dioxide and Oxygen‐Nitrogen Ratios as Factors Affecting Salmon Survival in Air‐Supersaturated Water
Author(s) -
Nebeker Alan V.,
Bouck Gerald R.,
Stevens Donald G.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1976)105<425:cdaora>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - carbon dioxide , supersaturation , saturation (graph theory) , oxygen , nitrogen , zoology , chemistry , oxygen saturation , oncorhynchus , environmental chemistry , biology , fish <actinopterygii> , fishery , mathematics , organic chemistry , combinatorics
Juvenile sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) were exposed to lethal levels of air‐supersaturated water (120 percent, 125 percent, 130 percent total gas saturation) containing different oxygen‐nitrogen ratios and different carbon dioxide concentrations. Fish mortality was not significantly different at different carbon dioxide levels (1.7 to 22.0 mg/liter CO 2 ) when tested at the same total gas saturation concentrations. Total gas saturation levels are much more important than the O 2 /N 2 ratios, as fish mortality will not occur unless total gas saturation exceeds 100 percent, regardless of the O 2 /N 2 ratios. There was a significant decrease in mortality when the ratio of oxygen to nitrogen was increased while holding the total percent saturation constant. Much more extensive and severe signs of gas bubble disease developed at high O 2 /N 2 ratios than at low O 2 /N 2 ratios, indicating that oxygen plays a significant part in forming external emphysema and lesions.