Control of the heart in fish

Edwin W. Taylor, Cleo Leite, Hamish Campbell, Itsara Intanai, Tobias Wang

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

The single circulatory system of all fish consists of a four-chambered heart (sinus venosus, atrium, ventricle and bulbous arteriosus), in series with the branchial and systemic vascular beds (Randall, 1968; Farrell and Jones, 1992). The matching of rates of water and blood flow over the functional countercurrent at the gills, according to their relative capacities for oxygen, is essential for effective respiratory gas exchange (Piiper and Scheid, 1977) and must be capable of rapid adjustment to varying metabolic rates. Cardiac output, and its components stroke volume and heart rate, are robust indicators of metabolism (Farrell and Jones, 1992), and the changes in heart rate with altered metabolic demand requires that the pacemaker activity is controlled. Fine control of heart rate includes beat-to-beat modulation by the respiratory cycle that can be manifested as one-to-one cardiorespiratory synchrony (Taylor, 1992).
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationFish Respiration and Environment
EditorsMarisa N Fernandes, Francisco T. Rantin, Mogens L. Glass, B.G. Kapoor
Place of PublicationBoca Raton
PublisherCRC Press
Chapter17
Pages341-375
Number of pages35
Edition1
ISBN (Electronic)9781439842546, 9780429093906
ISBN (Print)9781578083572
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2007
Externally publishedYes

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