Effects of Salinity on Metabolic Rate in Black Mollies

 

Christopher Beck, Lawrence Blumer, and Travis Brown

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2003, Volume 24

Abstract

This study examines the metabolic costs of osmoregulation in a freshwater fish, the black molly (Poecilia latipinna). It could be used in either an upper-level ecology or physiology course. Students evaluate the metabolic rate of a fish at a particular salinity by measuring the continuous decrease in oxygen concentration in a sealed chamber over a ten-minute period, or the initial and final oxygen concentrations over a twenty-minute period. Metabolic rate is the slope of oxygen concentration versus time, or change in oxygen concentration divided by time. By measuring metabolic rate at different salinities, students evaluate the metabolic cost of osmoregulation.

Keywords:  osmoregulation, oxygen use, metabolic rate, salinity, fish physiology

Louisiana State University (2002)