Metabolic biochemistry of cardiac muscle in three tuna species (bigeye, Thunnus obesus ; yellowfin, T. albacares ; and skipjack, Katsuwonus pelamis ) with divergent ambient temperature and oxygen tolerances

Bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) have much greater vertical mobility than yellowfin (T. albacares) and skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis) tunas, due to an apparent greater tolerance of the changes in ambient temperature and oxygen occurring with depth. In an attempt to identify physiological processes (e.g., effects of temperature on cardiac function) responsible for these behavioral differences, we examined enzyme activities (at 12 °C, 17 °C, and 25 °C) of cardiac muscle in all three species. Contrary to our expectations, we found few differences and no clear explanatory patterns in maximum enzyme activities (V_max) or enzyme activity ratios. For example, citrate synthase (CS) activity was the same in bigeye and skipjack tunas, but 40% lower in yellowfin tuna, whereas carnitine palmotoyltransferase (CPT) activity in skipjack tuna was approximately double that in the other two species. The ratio of CPT to pyruvate kinase (PK) activity, a measure of the tissues preference for fatty acids as metabolic substrates, was the same in bigeye and yellowfin tunas, but elevated skipjack tuna. The ratios of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) to CS activity and of PK to CS activity (anaerobic–aerobic enzyme activity ratios – taken as measures of the tissues ability to tolerate hypoxia) were both elevated in yellowfin tuna cardiac tissue relative to the other two species. We also found no differences in temperature sensitivity (Q₁₀ values) when comparing cardiac enzyme activities across species, nor effects of temperature on the substrate affinity (K_m) of LDH. In sum, our results do not suggest any clear metabolic difference in the cardiac muscle that would explain the apparent greater tolerance of bigeye tuna to acute hypoxia and ambient temperature changes or their substantially greater vertical mobility.