Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T11:09:23.771Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Measurement of gill area in fishes: practices and problems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

G. M. Hughes
G. M. Hughes
Affiliation:
Research Unit for Comparative Animal Respiration, BristolUniversity, Woodland Road, Bristol, BS UG
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

An account is given of a commonly accepted method for measurement of the gill area of fishes. A number of practical hints are included together with some warning about possible sources of error. In particular, these include sampling methods and reduction of errors due to shrinkage. Emphasis is given to the importance of weighting in the calculation of gill area. Problems which arise in comparisons of gills from different species are discussed and attention is drawn to possible errors that can be introduced by the reduction of all data to a given body weight offish. Such dangers are especially present where comparisons are made between fishes which may differ in weight by as much as four orders of magnitude.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 64 , Issue 3 , August 1984 , pp. 637 - 655
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

Al-Kadhomiy, N. 1984. Gill Development, Growth, and Respiration of the Flounder (Platichthys flesus). Thesis, University of Bristol.Google Scholar
Booth, J. H. 1978. The distribution of blood flow in the gills offish: application of a new technique to rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri). Journal of Experimental Biology, 73, 119–129.Google Scholar
Dornescu, G. T. & Miscalencu, D. 1968a. Cele trei tipuride branhii ale teleosteenilor. Annul. Bucharest University, 17, 11–20.Google Scholar
Dornescu, G. T. & Miscalencu, D. 1968b. Etude comparative des branchies de quelques especes de l'order Clupeiformes. Morphologisches Jahrbuch, 112, 261–276.Google Scholar
Gehr, P.Mwangi, D. K.Ammann, A.Maloiy, G. M. O.Taylor, C. R. & Weibel, E. R. 1981. Design of the mammalian respiratory system. V. Scaling morphometric pulmonary diffusing capacity to body mass: wild and domestic animals. Respiration Physiology, 44, 61–86.Google ScholarPubMed
Gray, I. E. 1954. Comparative studies of the gill area of marine fishes. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass., 107, 219–225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hills, B. A. & Hughes, G. M. 1970. A dimensional analysis of oxygen transfer in the fish gill. Respiration Physiology, 9, 126–140.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hughes, G. M. 1966. The dimensions of fish gills in relation to their function. Journal ofExperimental Biology, 45, 177–195.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hughes, G. M. 1970. Morphological measurements on the gills of fishes in relation to theirrespiratory function. Folia morphologica Praha, 18, 78–95.Google Scholar
Hughes, G. M. 1972. Morphometrics offish gills. RespirationPhysiology, 14, 1–25.Google Scholar
Hughes, G. M. 1973. Comparative vertebrate ventilation and heterogeneity. In Comparative Physiology (eds.Bolis, L.Schmidt-Nielsen, K. and Maddrell, S. H. P.) pp. 187–220. North Holland Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Hughes, G. M. 1976. Fish respiratory physiology. In Perspectives in Experimental Biology, vol. 1 (ed. SpencerDavies, P.) pp. 235–245.Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Hughes, G. M. 1977. Dimensions and the respiration of lower vertebrates. In Scale Effects in Animal Locomotion, (ed. Pedley, T. J.) pp. 57–81. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hughes, G. M. 1980a. Morphometry offish gas exchange organs in relation to their respiratory function. In Environmental Physiology of Fishes, (ed. Ali, M. A.) pp. 33–56. Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Hughes, G. M. 1980b. Functional morphology of fish gills. In Epithelial Transport in the Lower Vertebrates (ed. Lahlou, B.) pp. 15–36.Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hughes, G. M. 1980c. Ultrastructure and morphometry of the gills of Latimeria chalumnae, and a comparison with the gills of associated fishes. Proceedingsof the Royal Society (B), 208, 309–328.Google Scholar
Hughes, G. M. 1981. Fish gills - past, present and future. Biological Bulletin of India, 3, 69–87.Google Scholar
Hughes, G. M. 1982. An introduction to the study of gills. In Gills (ed. Houlihan, D. F.Rankinandt, J. C.Shuttleworth, J.) pp. 1–24.Cambridge University Press. [S.E.B. Seminar Series no. 16.]Google Scholar
Hughes, G. M. 1983. Allometry of gill dimensions in some British andAmerican decapod Crustacea. Journal of Zoology, 200, 83–97.Google Scholar
Hughes, G. M. 1984. Scaling of respiratory areas in relation to oxygen consumption of vertebrates. Experientia, 40, 519–524.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hughes, G. M. & Gray, I. E. 1972. Dimensions and ultrastructure of toadfish gills. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass., 143, 150–161.Google Scholar
Hughes, G. M. & Iwai, T. 1978. A morphometric study of the gills in some Pacific deep-sea fishes. Journal of Zoology, 184, 155–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, G. M. & Morgan, M. 1973. The structure offish gills in relation to their respiratory function. Biological Reviews, 48, 419–475.Google Scholar
Hughes, G. M. & Perry, S. F. 1976. Morphometric study of trout gills: a light microscopic method suitable for the evaluation of pollutant action. Journal of Experimental Biology, 64, 447–460.Google Scholar
Hughes, G. M.Perry, S. F. & Brown, V. M. 1979. A morphometric study of effects of nickel, chromium and cadmium on the secondary lamellae of rainbow trout gills. Water Research, 13, 664–679.Google Scholar
Hughes, G. M.Singh, B. R.Guha, G.Dube, S. C. &Munshi, J. S. D. 1974. Respiratory surface areas of an air-breathing siluroid fish, Saccobranchus (Heteropneustes)fossilis, in relation to body size. Journal of Zoology, 172, 215–232.Google Scholar
Hughes, G. M.& Thomas, S. 1981. Continuous recording of pH, PO2 and PCO2 of arterialblood in sea bass (Morone labrax) during changes in environmentalPO2. Journal of Physiology, 319, 86–87P.Google Scholar
Hughes, G. M.Tuurala, H. & Soivio, A. 1978. Regional distribution of blood in the gills of rainbow trout in normoxia and hypoxia: a morphometric study with two fixatives. Annales zoologici fennici, 15, 226–234.Google Scholar
Jager, S. De & Dekkers, W. J. 1975. Relations between gill structure and activity in fish. Netherlands Journal of Zoology, 25, 276–308.Google Scholar
Jager, S. DeSmit-Onel, M. E.Videler, J. J.Van, Gils, B J. M. & Uffink, E. M. 1977. The respiratory area of the gills of some teleost fishes in relation to their mode of life. Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde,46, 199–205.Google Scholar
Milton, P. 1971. Oxygen consumption and osmoregulation in the shanny, Blennius pholis. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 51, 247–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgan, M. 1971. Gill Development, Growth and Respiration in the Trout, Salmo gairdneri. Ph.D. Thesis, Bristol University.Google Scholar
Muir, B. S. & Hughes, G. M. 1969. Gill dimensions for three species of tunny. Journal of Experimental Biology, 51, 271–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munshi, J. S. D. 1976. Gross and fine structure of the respiratory organs of air-breathing fishes. In Respiration of Amphibious Vertebrates, (ed. Hughes, G. M.) pp. 73–104. AcademicPress.Google Scholar
Pauly, D. 1981. The relationships between gill surface area and growth performance in fish: a generalisation of von Bertalanffy's theory of growth. Meeresforschung Reports on Marine Research, 28, 251–282Google Scholar
Price, J. W. 1931. Growth and gill development in the small-mouthed black bass, Micropterusdolomieu Lacepede. Studies of the State University of Ohio,4, 1–40.Google Scholar
Saunders, R. L. 1962. The irrigation of the gills in fishes. 2.Efficiency of oxygen uptake in relation to respiratory flow activity and concentrations of oxygen and carbon dioxide. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 40, 817–862.Google Scholar
Scheid, P. & Piiper, J. 1976. Quantitative functional analysis of branchial gas transfer: theory and application to Scyliorhinus stellaris (Elasmobranchii). In Respiration of Amphibious Vertebrates (ed. Hughes, G. M.) pp. 17–38. Academic Press.Google Scholar
De Silva, C 1974. Development of the respiratory system in herring and plaice larvae. In The Early Life History of Fish (ed. Blaxter, J. H. S.) pp. 465–485. Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Soivio, A. & Tuurala, H. 1981. Structural and circulatory responses to hypoxia in the secondary lamellae of Salmo gairdneri gills at two temperatures. Journal of Comparative Physiology, 145, 37–43.Google Scholar
Weibel, E. R. 1972. Morphometric estimation of pulmonary diffusion capacity. V. Comparative morphometry of alveolar lungs. Respiration Physiology, 14, 26–43.Google Scholar
Weibel, E. R. 1973. Morphological basis of alveolar-capillary gas exchange. Physiological Reviews, 53, 419–495.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weibel, E. R.Gehr, P.Cruz-Orive, L. M.Muller, A. E.Mwangi, D. K. & Haussener, V. 1981. Design of the mammalian respiratory system. IV. Morphometric estimation of pulmonary diffusing capacity: critical evaluation of a new sampling method. Respiration Physiology 44, 39–59.Google Scholar