Respiration of Arctic Char (Salvelinus alpinus) From a High Arctic Lake

Abstract

The routine of resting oxygen consumption of Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) from a high arctic lake (74°42′N) was measured at 2 (acclimated) and 6 C (unacclimated). The oxygen uptake versus wet weight relation at 2 C was: Log O2 uptake = 0.7316 Log weight – 1.0944. Oxygen uptake was low, not showing any evidence of "cold adaptation," and was comparable to projections of oxygen uptake versus temperature relations of other salmonid fish from lower latitudes.The short term metabolic response to a rise in temperature of 4 C was independent of body size except with fish with yolk sacs and weighing less than 0.125 g.