Review: Analysis of the evolutionary convergence for high performance swimming in lamnid sharks and tunas

Elasmobranchs and bony fishes have evolved independently for more than 400 million years. However, two Recent groups, the lamnid sharks (Family Lamnidae) and tunas (Family Scombridae), display remarkable similarities in features related to swimming performance. Traits separating these two groups fro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part A Part A, 2001-06, Vol.129 (2), p.695-726
Main Authors: Bernal, Diego, Dickson, Kathryn A., Shadwick, Robert E., Graham, Jeffrey B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Biological
Animals
Biological Evolution
Biomechanical Phenomena
Body Temperature Regulation
Brain - physiology
Comparative biology
Convergence
Elasmobranchii
Endothermy
Evolutionary physiology
Lamnidae
Marine
Phylogeny
Respiration
Scombridae
Sharks
Sharks - physiology
Swimming
Teleostei
Tuna - physiology
Tunas
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Summary:Elasmobranchs and bony fishes have evolved independently for more than 400 million years. However, two Recent groups, the lamnid sharks (Family Lamnidae) and tunas (Family Scombridae), display remarkable similarities in features related to swimming performance. Traits separating these two groups from other fishes include a higher degree of body streamlining, a shift in the position of the aerobic, red, locomotor muscle that powers sustained swimming to a more anterior location in the body and nearer to the vertebral column, the capacity to conserve metabolic heat (i.e. regional endothermy), an increased gill surface area with a decreased blood–water barrier thickness, a higher maximum blood oxygen carrying capacity, and greater muscle aerobic and anaerobic enzyme activities at in vivo temperatures. The suite of morphological, physiological, and biochemical specializations that define ‘high-performance fishes’ have been extensively characterized in the tunas. This review examines the convergent features of lamnid sharks and tunas in order to gain insight into the extent that comparable environmental selection pressures have led to the independent origin of similar suites of functional characteristics in these two distinctly different taxa. We propose that, despite differences between teleost and elasmobranch fishes, lamnid sharks and tunas have evolved morphological and physiological specializations that enhance their swimming performance relative to other sharks and most other high performance pelagic fishes.
ISSN:1095-6433
1531-4332
DOI:10.1016/S1095-6433(01)00333-6