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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Fish Sci.
Sec. Fish Experimental Biology
Volume 2 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frish.2024.1489837
This article is part of the Research Topic The ecophysiology and behaviour of invasive species and climate change View all articles

Temperature-and ontogeny-dependent metabolism in invasive early juvenile round goby (Neogobius melanostomus)

Provisionally accepted
Hunter A. Herron Hunter A. Herron 1*Sina Zarini Sina Zarini 1William Andrew Thompson William Andrew Thompson 1Andy J. Turko Andy J. Turko 2Sigal Balshine Sigal Balshine 1
  • 1 McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
  • 2 University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) is the fastest spreading invasive fish in the Laurentian Great Lakes, and concurrent invasions are occurring globally. To inform management and mitigation strategies, metabolic rate of adult round goby has been rigorously quantified, but metabolism of the juvenile life stages represents an important knowledge gap. Here, we measured routine and maximum metabolic rates (RMR and MMR) of early juvenile round goby (mass 0.007-0.07 g, mean 0.02 g; total length 6.6-19.4 mm, mean 13.7 mm), ~100 smaller than any round goby measured previously. To understand how metabolism may be affected by a warming climate, we reared round goby at several ecologically relevant temperatures (15C, 19C, 23C) and a projected surface temperature under climate change scenarios (27C). We tested early juveniles at two separate and distinct ages (6-7 weeks and 12-14 weeks post-hatch). Growth was highest at 23C compared to 15C and 27C, but this pattern only emerged after 12-14 weeks of development. Routine metabolic rates increased over 2-fold between fish reared at 15C versus 27C (Q10 = 1.98), but we found no clear difference in our estimation of the 'scope for activity' (i.e. maximumroutine metabolic rate) across temperatures, suggesting a wide thermal performance curve. We also found that the bioenergetics models previously developed for adults do not effectively translate to juveniles; the current models underestimated observed RMR values by ~20-60% depending on temperature. Overall, data from this study can be used to improve bioenergetic modelling in the round goby by considering these earlier life stages and fill an important gap of knowledge in our understanding of an ecologically invasive species.

    Keywords: Ecophysiology, Climate Change, Routine metabolic rate, Maximum metabolic rate, Scope for activity, invasive species, Great Lakes, Neogobius melanostomus

    Received: 02 Sep 2024; Accepted: 10 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Herron, Zarini, Thompson, Turko and Balshine. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Hunter A. Herron, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.