Relationship between summated tissue respiration and body size in a marine teleost, the porgy Pagrus major

Abstract

Our hypothesis that the regular decrease in the mass-specific rate of metabolism with increasing body mass can be explained principally by a combination of a decrease in the rate of tissue respiration and an increase in the relative size of tissues of low metabolic activity with increasing body mass was examined with a marine teleost, the porgy Pagrus major. Summated oxygen consumption rate in vitro of an individual (Min vitro) was calculated from an allometric relationship of mass of an organ or part (P) to body mass (W) as P=kWs, and another allometric relationship of rate of tissue respiration in vitro (Qo2) to body mass (Qo2=cWd), determined with 28 organs and parts. The relationship between Min vitro (μmol O2/h) at 20°C and W (g) was expressed by the formula Min vitro=5.30W0.816 in fish weighing 0.01-1000 g. The mass exponent 0.816 was very close to that (0.821) in another formula (Min vivo=16.88W0.821) determined in our previous study at 20°C with intact porgy weighing 0.005-270 g. These results indicate that our hypothesis is quantitatively valid.