Warm-Bodied Fish

SYNOPSIS. Two groups of fishes, the tuna and the lamnid sharks,have evolved ounter-currentheat-exchange mechanisms for conservingmetabolic heat and raising their body temperatures. Warm musclecan produce more power, and considering the other adaptationsfor fast swimming in these fish, it seems likely that the selectiveadvantages of greater speed made possible by the warm musclewere important in the evolution of this system. Some tunas suchas the yellowfin and skip jack are at a fixed temperature differenceabove the water, but bluefin tuna can thermoregulate. Telemetryexperiments show that the bluefin tuna can maintain a constantdeep body temperature during marked changes in the temperatureof its environment.