Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T07:17:40.314Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The herring swimbladder: loss and gain of gas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

J. H. S. Blaxter  and
R. S. Batty
J. H. S. Blaxter
Affiliation:
Scottish Marine Biological Association, Dunstaffnage Marine Research Laboratory, Oban, Argyll, Scotland, PA AD
R. S. Batty
Affiliation:
Scottish Marine Biological Association, Dunstaffnage Marine Research Laboratory, Oban, Argyll, Scotland, PA AD
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The herring is a physostome with no gas secretion mechanism in the swimbladder. The swimbladder volume was measured in fish from about 3–33 cm in length. It was rarely large enough to give the fish neutral buoyancy at the sea surface. Swimbladder volumes were also measured after periods of up to 1 week at pressures from 1·9 to 5·5 ATA (0·9–4·5atm above atmospheric pressure) in a laboratory pressure vessel and in a sub-surface cage in the sea. The swimbladder gas was lost within a few hours in the larval herring and in a few days in smaller juvenile fish; no change was found in older fish under experimental conditions. The findings were in accord with measurements of the guanine content of the swimbladder wall which was low in those fish which lost gas quickly. This supports the view that gas diffusion is limited by guanine crystals. While it seems likely that larger fish can exist for several weeks without the need to replenish the swimbladder gas some large spawning herring were caught at sea with empty swimbladders, suggesting a long stay near the sea bed. Analysis of swimbladder gas showed that oxygen tended to diffuse out more quickly than nitrogen. Behaviour experiments showed that fish with artificially emptied swimbladders could refill them by swallowing air at the surface, in some cases very quickly and efficiently. Fish with empty swimbladders and no access to the surface suffered a high mortality. The ecological implications of these results and their relevance to the interpretation of sonar ‘target strength’ measurements are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 64 , Issue 2 , May 1984 , pp. 441 - 459
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alexander, R. Mcn. 1959. The physical properties of the swimbladder in intact Cypriniformes. Journal of Experimental Biology, 36, 315–332.Google Scholar
Blaxter, J. H. S. 1968. Rearing herring larvae to metamorphosis and beyond. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 48, 17–28.Google Scholar
Blaxter, J. H. S. & Denton, E. J. 1976. Function of the swimbladder - inner ear-lateral line system of herring in the young stages. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 56, 487–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaxter, J. H. S.Denton, E. J. & Gray, J. A. B. 1979. The herring swimbladder as a gas reservoir for the acoustico-lateralis system. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 59, 1–10.Google Scholar
Blaxter, J. H. S. & Tytler, P. 1972. Pressure discrimination in teleost fish. Symposia of the Society for Experimental Biology, no. 26, 417–443.Google Scholar
Brawn, V. M. 1962. Physical properties and hydrostatic function of the swimbladder of herring {Clupea harengus L.). Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 19, 635–656.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denton, E. J.Liddicoat, J. D. & Taylor, D. W. 1972. The permeability to gases of the swimbladder of the conger eel {Conger conger). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 52, 727–746.Google Scholar
Edwards, J. I. 1980. A barge for the transport and storage of live fish. International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. {C.M. Papers and Reports), B: 18, 4 pp. [Mimeo.]Google Scholar
Edwards, J. I. & Armstrong, F. 1982. Measurement of the target strength of live herring and mackerel. In Proceedings of the Symposium on Fisheries Acoustics, Bergen, 1982, paper 78, 8 pp. [Mimeo.] International Council for the Exploration of the Sea.Google Scholar
Fahlén, G. 1967. Morphological aspects on the hydrostatic function of the gas bladder of Clupea harengus L. Acta Universitatis lundensis, Section ii, no. 1, 49 pp.Google Scholar
Hunter, J. R. & Sanchez, C. 1976. Diel changes in swimbladder inflation of the larvae of the northern anchovy, Engraulis mordax. Fishery Bulletin. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States, 74, 847–855.Google Scholar
Jones, F. R.Harden, & Marshall, N. B. 1953. The structure and functions of the teleostean swimbladder. Biological Reviews, 28, 16–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicol, J. A. C. & Van Baalen, C. 1968. Studies on the reflecting layers of fishes. Contributions in Marine Science, University of Texas, 13, 65–88.Google Scholar
Sundnes, G. & Bratland, P., 1972. Notes on the gas content and neutral buoyancy in physostome fish. Fiskeridirektoratets skrifter (ser. Havundersokelser), 16, 89–97.Google Scholar