Factors affecting gestation periods in elasmobranch fishes
Gestation periods vary greatly across elasmobranch species. Differences in body size and body temperature (i.e. major determinants of metabolic rates) might explain such variation. Although temperature effects have been demonstrated for captive animals, body size effects remain undocumented. Moreove...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Company of Biologists
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Biology Open |
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| Online Access: | http://bio.biologists.org/content/11/6/bio059270 |
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| author | Soma Tokunaga Yuuki Y. Watanabe Mai Kawano Yuuki Kawabata |
| author_facet | Soma Tokunaga Yuuki Y. Watanabe Mai Kawano Yuuki Kawabata |
| author_sort | Soma Tokunaga |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Gestation periods vary greatly across elasmobranch species. Differences in body size and body temperature (i.e. major determinants of metabolic rates) might explain such variation. Although temperature effects have been demonstrated for captive animals, body size effects remain undocumented. Moreover, whether metabolic rates of mothers or those of embryos affect gestation periods remains unclear. Because biological times generally scale with mass1−β, where β is metabolic scaling exponent (0.8–0.9 in fishes), we hypothesized that elasmobranch gestation periods would scale with mass0.1–0.2. We also hypothesized that regionally endothermic species with elevated metabolic rates should have shorter gestation periods than similar-sized ectothermic species if the metabolic rates of mothers are responsible. We compiled data on gestation periods for 36 elasmobranch species to show that gestation periods scale with M0.11 and m0.17, where M and m are adult female mass and birth mass, respectively. Litter size and body temperature also affected gestation periods. Our findings suggest that the body-mass dependence of metabolic rate explains some variations in elasmobranch gestation periods. Unexpectedly, regionally endothermic sharks did not have shorter gestation periods than their ectothermic counterparts, suggesting that the metabolic rates of embryos, which are likely ectothermic in all elasmobranch species, may be responsible. This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T15:31:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-84f726dd26ee49f394d99db95b009223 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2046-6390 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T15:31:21Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | The Company of Biologists |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Biology Open |
| spelling | doaj.art-84f726dd26ee49f394d99db95b0092232022-12-22T01:00:03ZengThe Company of BiologistsBiology Open2046-63902022-06-0111610.1242/bio.059270059270Factors affecting gestation periods in elasmobranch fishesSoma Tokunaga0Yuuki Y. Watanabe1Mai Kawano2Yuuki Kawabata3 Faculty of Fisheries, Nagasaki University, Bunkyo, Nagasaki 852-8521, Japan Department of Polar Science, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI, Tachikawa, Tokyo 190-8518, Japan Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan Graduate School of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences, Nagasaki University, Bunkyo, Nagasaki 852-8521, Japan Gestation periods vary greatly across elasmobranch species. Differences in body size and body temperature (i.e. major determinants of metabolic rates) might explain such variation. Although temperature effects have been demonstrated for captive animals, body size effects remain undocumented. Moreover, whether metabolic rates of mothers or those of embryos affect gestation periods remains unclear. Because biological times generally scale with mass1−β, where β is metabolic scaling exponent (0.8–0.9 in fishes), we hypothesized that elasmobranch gestation periods would scale with mass0.1–0.2. We also hypothesized that regionally endothermic species with elevated metabolic rates should have shorter gestation periods than similar-sized ectothermic species if the metabolic rates of mothers are responsible. We compiled data on gestation periods for 36 elasmobranch species to show that gestation periods scale with M0.11 and m0.17, where M and m are adult female mass and birth mass, respectively. Litter size and body temperature also affected gestation periods. Our findings suggest that the body-mass dependence of metabolic rate explains some variations in elasmobranch gestation periods. Unexpectedly, regionally endothermic sharks did not have shorter gestation periods than their ectothermic counterparts, suggesting that the metabolic rates of embryos, which are likely ectothermic in all elasmobranch species, may be responsible. This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.http://bio.biologists.org/content/11/6/bio059270endothermymetabolismphylogenetic analysisscalingviviparity |
| spellingShingle | Soma Tokunaga Yuuki Y. Watanabe Mai Kawano Yuuki Kawabata Factors affecting gestation periods in elasmobranch fishes Biology Open endothermy metabolism phylogenetic analysis scaling viviparity |
| title | Factors affecting gestation periods in elasmobranch fishes |
| title_full | Factors affecting gestation periods in elasmobranch fishes |
| title_fullStr | Factors affecting gestation periods in elasmobranch fishes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Factors affecting gestation periods in elasmobranch fishes |
| title_short | Factors affecting gestation periods in elasmobranch fishes |
| title_sort | factors affecting gestation periods in elasmobranch fishes |
| topic | endothermy metabolism phylogenetic analysis scaling viviparity |
| url | http://bio.biologists.org/content/11/6/bio059270 |
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