The routine metabolic rate of mulloway (Argyrosomus japonicus: Sciaenidae) and yellowtail kingfish (Seriola lalandi: Carangidae) acclimated to six different temperatures

This study compared the mass-specific routine metabolic rate (RMR) of similar sized mulloway (Argyrosomus japonicus), a sedentary species, and yellowtail kingfish (Seriola lalandi), a highly active species, acclimated at one of several temperatures ranging from 10–35 °C. Respirometry was carried out in an open-top static system and RMR corrected for seawater–atmosphere O2 exchange using mass-balance equations. For both species RMR increased linearly with increasing temperature (T). RMR for mulloway was 5.78T − 29.0 mg O2 kg− 0.8 h− 1 and for yellowtail kingfish was 12.11T − 39.40 mg O2 kg− 0.8 h− 1. The factorial difference in RMR between mulloway and yellowtail kingfish ranged from 2.8 to 2.2 depending on temperature. The energetic cost of routine activity can be described as a function of temperature for mulloway as 1.93T − 9.68 kJ kg− 0.8 day− 1 and for yellowtail kingfish as 4.04T − 13.14 kJ kg− 0.8 day− 1. Over the full range of temperatures tested Q10 values were approximately 2 for both species while Q10 responses at each temperature increment varied considerably with mulloway and yellowtail kingfish displaying thermosensitivities indicative of each species respective niche habitat. RMR for mulloway was least thermally dependent at 28.5 °C and for yellowtail kingfish at 22.8 °C. Activation energies (Ea) calculated from Arrhenius plots were not significantly different between mulloway (47.6 kJ mol− 1) and yellowtail kingfish (44.1 kJ mol− 1).