Brain cooling marginally increases acute upper thermal tolerance in Atlantic cod.

Physiological mechanisms determining thermal limits in fishes are debated but remain elusive. It has been hypothesised that motor function loss, observed as loss of equilibrium during acute warming, is due to direct thermal effects on brain neuronal function. To test this, we mounted cooling plates on the heads of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) and quantified whether local brain cooling increased whole-organism acute upper thermal tolerance. Brain cooling reduced brain temperature by 2-6°C below ambient water temperature and increased thermal tolerance by 0.5 and 0.6°C on average relative to instrumented and uninstrumented controls, respectively, suggesting that direct thermal effects on brain neurons may contribute to setting upper thermal limits in fish. However, the improvement in thermal tolerance with brain cooling was small relative to the difference in brain temperature, demonstrating that other mechanisms (e.g. failure of spinal and peripheral neurons, or muscle) may also contribute to controlling acute thermal tolerance.

Hyperoxia increases maximum oxygen consumption and aerobic scope of intertidal fish facing acutely high temperatures.

Daytime low tides that lead to high-temperature events in stranded rock pools often co-occur with algae-mediated hyperoxia as a result of strong solar radiation. Recent evidence shows aerobic metabolic scope (MS) can be expanded under hyperoxia in fish but so far this possibility has not been examined in intertidal species despite being an ecologically relevant scenario. Furthermore, it is unknown whether hyperoxia increases the upper thermal tolerance limits of intertidal fish and, therefore, their ability to withstand extreme high-temperature events. Therefore, we measured the metabolic response (mass-specific rate of oxygen consumption, MO2 ) to thermal ramping (21-29°C) and the upper thermal tolerance limit (UTL) of two intertidal triplefin fishes (Bellapiscis medius and Forsterygion lapillum) under hyperoxia and normoxia. Hyperoxia increased maximal oxygen consumption (MO2,max) and MS of each species at ambient temperature (21°C) but also after thermal ramping to elevated temperatures such as those observed in rock pools (29°C). While hyperoxia did not provide a biologically meaningful increase in upper thermal tolerance of either species (>31°C under all conditions), the observed expansion of MS at 29°C under hyperoxia could potentially benefit the aerobic performance, and hence the growth and feeding potential, etc., of intertidal fish at non-critical temperatures. That hyperoxia does not increase upper thermal tolerance in a meaningful way is cause for concern as climate change is expected to drive more extreme rock pool temperatures in the future and this could present a major challenge for these species.