Oxygen uptake in the Antarctic teleost Pagothenia borchgrevinki. Limitations imposed by X-cell gill disease.

Fish in a population of Pagothenia borchgrevinki in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, are affected by a gill disease (X-cell disease) which causes tissue hyperplasia that results in a decreased gill surface area and an increased water/blood diffusion distance. P. borchgrevinki acquires 95% of its oxygen via the gills, but damage to the gills by X-cell disease did not affect this function. There was no compensatory shift to cutaneous respiration. X-cell disease reduced the ability for oxygen uptake at low ambient PO 2 and the decreased uptake was related to the extent of the disease. O 2 max was greatly reduced in X-cell affected fish and substantially reduced their aerobic potential. This effect may impair the ability of diseased fish to catch prey and avoid predators.