Climate Change has Surprising Effect on Endangered Naked Carp; 'Metabolic Holiday'

Climate Change has Surprising Effect on Endangered Naked Carp; 'Metabolic Holiday'

By Chris M. Wood

Source: Underwatertimes

12/19/2006

A groundbreaking study reveals an unanticipated way freshwater fish may respond to water diversion and climate change. Endangered naked carp migrate annually between freshwater rivers, where they spawn, and a lake in Western China, where they feed and grow. However, Lake Qinghai is drying up and becoming increasingly more saline--leading to surprising adjustments to the carps' metabolic rate.

Naked carp take seven to ten years to reach reproductive size. Although historically abundant, overfishing and destruction of spawning habitat through dam-building caused the species to become endangered during the 1990s. Diversion of water for agriculture from the lake has been compounded by climate change, leading to a decline in water level in the lake of 10–12 cm per year during the past fifty years (see accompanying image).

However, Chris M. Wood (McMaster University) and coauthors found that naked carp respond to the increased salinity of the lake water in a surprising way--by taking a "metabolic holiday." In the first forty-eight hours after transitioning from the freshwater river system to lake water, the carps' oxygen consumption falls --eventually reaching just 60 percent of that in river fish.

Both gill and kidney functions also decline. The sodium/potassium pump (Na+/K+-ATPase), which is a protein critical for cellular function, operated at only 30 percent of its capacity in lake-water fish compared to river-water fish. Ammonia-N secretion by the kidneys declines by a surprising 70 percent, and urine flow decreases drastically to less than 5 percent of its rate in the freshwater river water.

Qinghai Lake naked carp

Continue...

News Id		Source	Stamp	country
3301	Magnet Fishing, a Pandemic Craze, Is Now Creating Trash Problems	wsj	2021-10-17	DE
3302	'Stunned' researchers rescue 4,000-pound sunfish from net	usatoday	2021-10-19	US
3303	Tongue-eating creature found inside fish at Texas state park is the stuff of nightmares	ksat	2021-10-20	US
3304	After 19 fishing deaths in Texas, officials are offering tips for anglers to stay safe	mysanantonio	2021-10-22	US
3305	Algae-purified wastewater used to raise fish	newatlas	2021-10-21	CN
3306	Fly fish angler reels in potential world-record blue catfish in Texas river	ksat	2021-10-21	US
3307	Would you quit your job for $110,000? This California swordfish catcher said no	latimes	2021-10-15	US
3308	Fish farmers 'should face penalties and even criminal charges for mass escapes'	heraldscotland	2021-10-16	UK
3309	Fishing without hooks, rods, reels: This old method still works	The Post and Courier	2021-10-17	US
3310	NJ angler sets new fishing record in landlocked reservoir	Fox News	2021-10-29	US
3311	After poll, lawmakers will propose Lake Erie favorite as Ohio’s state fish	wkbn	2021-10-14	US
3312	Mystery beast with no eyes, ears or mouth stuns diver in depths of the Red Sea	mirror	2021-10-15	EG
3313	U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka cited for fishing without commercial crew license	adn	2021-10-08	US
3314	Parks Commission expands coastal wetland restoration to Boyer’s Creek	Niagara This Week	2019-02-19	CA
3315	Now properly classified, this tiny, translucent fish could help unlock our brains’ secrets	Texas Standard	2021-10-05	US
3316	Fishing record revoked in Connecticut	fox	2021-09-29	US
3317	Fisherman breaks nearly 30-year-old record in Florida	foxnews	2021-10-12	US
3318	Alligator gar caught in Kansas for the first time ever	foxnews	2021-10-13	US
3319	Rare fish, last spotted in Ohio creek in 1957, declared extinct	yahoo	2021-10-06	US
3320	Who or what is killing the bass in Green Lake?	Star Tribune	2021-10-06	US
3321	State backs limited fishing of goliath grouper	fox13	2021-10-06	US
3322	How to Keep a Small Aquarium Without Being Cruel to the Fish	lifehacker	2021-09-27	US
3323	Britain angers France over fishing boat licences	rte	2021-09-28	IE
3324	Fish fertilize corals and seagrasses but not the way you think	flu	2021-09-28	PA
3325	How illegal fishing off Cameroon’s coast worsens maritime security	theconversation	2021-09-29	CM

132 of [218 - pages.]