Course Outline: Physiology of Aquatic Animals (Biol 3005)

Instructors:   J. Duston Ph.D.,                       Term: Fall                                 Updated: Jan'07

Lectures: Tues, Thurs, 9.30-11

Lab: Friday 2-5pm

1.Water basics. Anomolous and colligative properties. Henry’s Law. 2. Respiration in fish  eggs and larvae. Gill structure and function. Bucco-opercular pump.

1. Basics: gases, use of anesthetic, Dissection and diagram prep. Microscopy. Abstract writing.

Gill structure and function, invertebrates vs. vertebrates. Haemoglobin. Ice fish. Oxygen dissociation curves. Bohr effect. Carbon dioxide exchange. Heart and circulation.

2. Respiration & circulation.
Skills: Blood sampling. Use oxygen meter. Microscopy.
Formal lab Report #1 of 5

3. Osmoregulation. Osmoconformers. Intracellular  & extracellular ion balance. Brackish and freshwater invertebrates. Flame cells. Antennal glands.

3. Osmoregulation: crab vs. lobster.
Skills: Blood sampling. Use osmometer. Formal lab. Report #2 of 5.

Marine teleosts. Water uptake: Drinking seawater. Ion excretion: Chloride cells. Freshwater teleosts: water excretion, ion uptake. Smoltification. Shark osmoregulation

4. Osmoregulation: striped bass vs. salmonid. Skills: Blood sampling. Use of osmometer. Comparison of means. Formal lab. Report #3 of 5.

4. Energy Metabolism. Visual vs. chemoreception of food. Gape. Suction vs. filter feeders (shellfish & finfish)

5. Active transport by Kidney tubules.
Skills: Fish handling. Fish dissection. In vitro preparation. Microscopy. Formal lab. Report #4 of 5.

Alimentary canal: herbivores vs. carnivores. Six factors affecting food intake. Body size vs. metabolic rate.

No lab: College Royal

Metabolism vs. temperature and oxygen. Anaerobic respiration. The limits of life: upper lethal temperature.

No lab: Mid-term exam

Lower lethal temperature. Ice fish. Behavioural thermoregulation. 5. Muscle, movement and locomotion. Muscles and swimming

6. Oxygen consumption vs. body size.
Skills: respirometry. Use oxygen meter. Linear regression, Formal lab. Report#5 of 5

Sprinters vs. cruisers. Buoyancy & swimbladders. Physoclists and physostomes.

7. Buoyancy and swimming.
Skills: Fish handling. Behaviour observations. Use of pressurized gases.

6. Growth. Effects of body size/temperature/oxygen/ration. Specific growth rate. Protein turnover. Compensatory growth

8. Broodstock stripping and fecundity.
Skills: Handling large fish. Fertilizing eggs. Comparing means.

Variation in growth and life-history patterns. Age at maturity and smolting. 7. Reproduction. Ovoparity to viviparity. Hypothalamo-pituitary-gonad axis. Vitellogenesis. Spawning.

9.  Estimating fecundity. Striped bass feeding trial assessment.
Skills: Basic stats (mean confidence intervals). Fish handling

Egg development to hatching. 8. Early life-histories. Larvae: feeding, swimming, eyesight. Cannibalism. Predator detection: lateral line. Otic bulla

10. Early life-history stages: salmonid vs. pelagic.
Skills: Microscopy.