Dissertation Research: Physiological and Morphological Specializations for High Performance Swimming in the Mako Shark, Isurus oxyrinchus (Family Lamnidae)

这一学位论文改进奖将加强对黑鲨游泳性能的持续研究。这项工作将提供有关Makos及其近亲如何在与高代谢率和游泳能力相关的特征上与金枪鱼相似的新信息。巨鲨和金枪鱼独有的特征包括心肺系统的改变、肌肉形态、酶活性的提高和温暖的身体。该项目的目标是使用以前用于金枪鱼的大型水洞跑步机获取Makos的数据，并收集基于实验室的数据，这些数据涉及向游泳肌肉输送氧气的结构成分。这个项目将解决Makos在游泳时的能量需求，并记录它保持温暖体温的能力。这项研究是史无前例的，因为它将使用活的Mako鲨鱼来测量似乎只有它们、它们的近亲和金枪鱼才有的变量。这项研究的结果将与金枪鱼的研究结果进行比较，以加强我们对鱼类进化过程的了解。这将展示4亿多年来独立进化的生物是如何发展出独特且几乎相同的特征，从而提高游泳能力的。

This Dissertation Improvement Award will enhance ongoing studies on the swimming performance of the mako shark. This work will provide new information about how makos, and their close relatives, resemble tunas in features related to an elevated metabolic rate and swimming capacity. Characters unique to mako sharks and to tunas include modifications of the cardiorespiratory system, muscle morphology, elevated enzyme activities, and warm bodies. The project's objectives are to obtain data on makos using a large water tunnel treadmill used previously for tunas, and to gather laboratory based data on the structural components involved in the delivery of oxygen to the muscles used to swim. This project will address the energy requirements of makos for swimming and document the its ability to maintain a warm body temperature. This study is unprecedented in that it will use live mako sharks to measure variables that seem to be unique only to them, their close-relatives, and the tunas. The results of this study will be compared with those obtained for tunas to enhance our knowledge of the evolutionary process in fishes. This will show how organisms that have evolved independently for more than 400 million years have developed unique and almost identical characters that allow for enhanced swimming performance.