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Air-breathing behavior and physiological responses to hypoxia and air exposure in the air-breathing loricariid fish, Pterygoplichthys anisitsi

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Abstract

Hypoxic water and episodic air exposure are potentially life-threatening conditions that fish in tropical regions can face during the dry season. This study investigated the air-breathing behavior, oxygen consumption, and respiratory responses of the air-breathing (AB) armored catfish Pterygoplichthys anisitsi. The hematological parameters and oxygen-binding characteristics of whole blood and stripped hemoglobin and the intermediate metabolism of selected tissue in normoxia, different hypoxic conditions, and after air exposure were also examined. In normoxia, this species exhibited high activity at night and AB behavior (2–5 AB h−1). The exposure to acute severe hypoxia elicited the AB behavior (4 AB h−1) during the day. Under progressive hypoxia without access to the water surface, the fish were oxyregulators with a critical O2 tension, calculated as the inspired water O2 pressure, as 47 ± 2 mmHg. At water O2 tensions lower than 40 mmHg, the fish exhibited continuous apnea behavior. The blood exhibited high capacity for transporting O2, having a cathodic hemoglobin component with a high Hb–O2 affinity. Under severe hypoxia, the fish used anaerobic metabolism to maintain metabolic rate. Air exposure revealed physiological and biochemical traits similar to those observed under normoxic conditions.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the grants from the Brazilian research funding institutions National Council of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq), Foundation for Supporting Research in the State of São Paulo (FAPESP), and Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personal (CAPES) to MN Fernandes. The authors thank the Aquaculture Center of the São Paulo State University (CAUNESP), Jaboticabal, SP, for providing the fish. A.L. Cruz and W. Klein, and M.N. Fernandes are, respectively, research members of National Institute of Science and Technology in Comparative Physiology (INCT-Fisiologia Comparada) and National Institute of Science and Technology in Aquatic Toxicology (INCT-Toxicologia Aquática). A.L. Cruz acknowledges CAPES for awarding scholarships.

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  1. André Luis da Cruz

    Present address: Institute for Biology, Department of Zoology, Federal University of Bahia, Rua Barão de Geremoabo 147, Campus de Ondina, Salvador, BA, 40170-970, Brazil

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiological Sciences, Federal University of São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil

    André Luis da Cruz, Hugo Ribeiro da Silva & Marisa Narciso Fernandes

  2. Department of Genetics and Evolution, Federal University of São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil

    Lícia Maria Lundstedt, Arno Rudi Schwantes & Gilberto Moraes

  3. Department of Biology, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil

    Wilfried Klein

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  1. André Luis da Cruz
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da Cruz, A.L., da Silva, H.R., Lundstedt, L.M. et al. Air-breathing behavior and physiological responses to hypoxia and air exposure in the air-breathing loricariid fish, Pterygoplichthys anisitsi . Fish Physiol Biochem 39, 243–256 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-012-9695-0

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