Comparative metabolic rates of common western North Atlantic Ocean sciaenid fishes

Authors

A. Z. Horodysky, Hampton UniversityFollow
R. W. Brill, NOAA
P. G. Bushnell, Indiana University - South Bend
J. A. Musick, Virginia Institute of Marine Science
R. J. Latour, Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Date of this Version

2011

Comments

Published in Journal of Fish Biology (2011) 79, 235–255; doi:10.1111/j.1095-8649.2011.03017.x

Abstract

The resting metabolic rates (RR) of western North Atlantic Ocean sciaenids, such as Atlantic croaker Micropogonias undulatus, spot Leiostomus xanthurus and kingfishes Menticirrhus spp., as well as the active metabolic rates (R_A) of M. undulatus and L. xanthurus were investigated to facilitate inter and intraspecific comparisons of their energetic ecology. The R_R of M. undulatus and L. xanthurus were typical for fishes with similar lifestyles. The R_R of Menticirrhus spp. were elevated relative to those of M. undulatus and L. xanthurus, but below those of high-energy-demand species such as tunas Thunnus spp. and dolphinfish Coryphaena hippurus. Repeated-measures non-linear mixed-effects models were applied to account for within-individual autocorrelation and corrected for non-constant variance typical of noisy R_A data sets. Repeated-measures models incorporating autoregressive first-order [AR(1)] and autoregressive moving average (ARMA) covariances provided significantly superior fits, more precise parameter estimates (i.e. reduced s.e.) and y-intercept estimates that more closely approximated measured R_R for M. undulatus and L. xanthurus than standard least-squares regression procedures.