Effects of longitudinal body position and swimming speed on mechanical power of deep red muscle from skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis).

The mechanical power output of deep, red muscle from skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) was studied to investigate (i) whether this muscle generates maximum power during cruise swimming, (ii) how the differences in strain experienced by red muscle at different axial body locations affect its performance and (iii) how swimming speed affects muscle work and power output. Red muscle was isolated from approximately mid-way through the deep wedge that lies next to the backbone; anterior (0.44 fork lengths, ANT) and posterior (0.70 fork lengths, POST) samples were studied. Work and power were measured at 25 degrees C using the work loop technique. Stimulus phases and durations and muscle strains (+/- 5.5 % in ANT and +/- 8 % in POST locations) experienced during cruise swimming at different speeds were obtained from previous studies and used during work loop recordings. In addition, stimulus conditions that maximized work were determined. The stimulus durations and phases yielding maximum work decreased with increasing cycle frequency (analogous to tail-beat frequency), were the same at both axial locations and were almost identical to those used by the fish during swimming, indicating that the muscle produces near-maximal work under most conditions in swimming fish. While muscle in the posterior region undergoes larger strain and thus produces more mass-specific power than muscle in the anterior region, when the longitudinal distribution of red muscle mass is considered, the anterior muscles appear to contribute approximately 40% more total power. Mechanical work per length cycle was maximal at a cycle frequency of 2-3 Hz, dropping to near zero at 15 Hz and by 20-50% at 1 Hz. Mechanical power was maximal at a cycle frequency of 5 Hz, dropping to near zero at 15 Hz. These fish typically cruise with tail-beat frequencies of 2.8-5.2 Hz, frequencies at which power from cyclic contractions of deep red muscles was 75-100% maximal. At any given frequency over this range, power using stimulation conditions recorded from swimming fish averaged 93.4 +/- 1.65% at ANT locations and 88.6 +/- 2.08% at POST locations (means +/- S.E.M., N=3-6) of the maximum using optimized conditions. When cycle frequency was held constant (4 Hz) and strain amplitude was increased, work and power increased similarly in muscles from both sample sites; work and power increased 2.5-fold when strain was elevated from +/- 2 to +/- 5.5%, but increased by only approximately 12% when strain was raised further from +/- 5.5 to +/- 8%. Taken together, these data suggest that red muscle fibres along the entire body are used in a similar fashion to produce near-maximal mechanical power for propulsion during normal cruise swimming. Modelling suggests that the tail-beat frequency at which power is maximal (5 Hz) is very close to that used at the predicted maximum aerobic swimming speed (5.8 Hz) in these fish.