Ontogeny of the Respiratory Area in Relation to Body Mass with Reference to Resting Metabolism in the Japanese Flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1846)

Abstract

Metabolism is the fundamental process dictating material and energy fluxes through organisms. Several studies have suggested that resting metabolic scaling in various aquatic invertebrates is positively correlated with changes in body shape and the scaling of body surface area, which agrees with the surface area theory, but contradicts the negative correlations predicted by the resource–transport network theory. However, the relationship between resting metabolic scaling and respiration area, particularly in asymmetric fish that have undergone dramatically rapid metamorphosis, remains unclear. In this morphometric study in an asymmetric fish species (Paralichthys olivaceus), I compared my results with previous reports on resting metabolic scaling. I measured the respiratory area of P. olivaceus specimens aged 11–94 days (body weight, 0.00095–1.30000 g, respectively) to determine whether and how the resting metabolic scaling is associated with changes in body shape and respiratory area. Resting metabolic scaling might be more closely related to body surface area, because their slopes exactly corresponded with each other, than to respiratory area. Furthermore, confirming the surface area theory, it was linked to changes in body shape, but not from the resource–transport network theory. These findings provide new insights into the scaling mechanisms of area in relation to metabolism in asymmetric fish.