Abstract

In fishes, swimming performance is considered an important metric to measure fitness, dispersal and migratory abilities. The swimming performance of individual larval fishes is often integrated into models to make inferences on how environmental parameters affect population-level dynamics (e.g. connectivity). However, little information exists regarding how experimental protocols affect the swimming performance of marine fish larvae. In addition, the technical setups used to measure larval fish swimming performance often lack automation and accurate control of water quality parameters and flow velocity. In this study, we automated the control of multi-lane swimming chambers for small fishes by developing an open-source algorithm. This automation allowed us to execute repeatable flow scenarios and reduce operator interference and inaccuracies in flow velocity typically associated with manual control. Furthermore, we made structural modifications to a prior design to reduce the areas of lower flow velocity. We then validated the flow dynamics of the new chambers using computational fluid dynamics and particle-tracking software. The algorithm provided an accurate alignment between the set and measured flow velocities and we used it to test whether faster critical swimming speed (U_crit) protocols (i.e. shorter time intervals and higher velocity increments) would increase U_crit of early life stages of two tropical fish species [4–10-mm standard length (SL)]. The U_crit of barramundi (Lates calcarifer) and cinnamon anemonefish (Amphiprion melanopus) increased linearly with fish length, but in cinnamon anemonefish, U_crit started to decrease upon metamorphosis. Swimming protocols using longer time intervals (more than 2.5 times increase) negatively affected U_crit in cinnamon anemonefish but not in barramundi. These species-specific differences in swimming performance highlight the importance of testing suitable U_crit protocols prior to experimentation. The automated control of flow velocity will create more accurate and repeatable data on swimming performance of larval fishes. Integrating refined measurements into individual-based models will support future research on the effects of environmental change.

中文翻译：

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小鱼多泳道游泳室的自动流量控制表明物种特定对实验方案的敏感性

 抽象的

对于鱼类来说，游泳表现被认为是衡量健康、分散和迁徙能力的重要指标。个体幼鱼的游泳表现通常被整合到模型中，以推断环境参数如何影响种群动态（例如连通性）。然而，关于实验方案如何影响海鱼幼虫游泳性能的信息很少。此外，用于测量幼鱼游泳性能的技术装置通常缺乏对水质参数和流速的自动化和精确控制。在这项研究中，我们通过开发开源算法自动控制小鱼的多车道游泳室。这种自动化使我们能够执行可重复的流动场景，并减少通常与手动控制相关的操作员干扰和流速不准确。此外，我们对现有设计进行了结构修改，以减少流速较低的区域。然后，我们使用计算流体动力学和粒子跟踪软件验证了新室的流动动力学。该算法提供了设置的流速和测量的流速之间的准确对齐，我们用它来测试更快的临界游泳速度（ U _crit ）协议（即更短的时间间隔和更高的速度增量）是否会增加两种热带动物早期生命阶段的U _crit鱼类 [4–10 毫米标准长度 (SL)]。 尖吻鲈 ( Lates calcarifer ) 和肉桂小丑鱼 ( Amphiprion melanopus ) 的U_临界值随鱼体长呈线性增加，但肉桂小丑鱼的U_临界值在变态后开始下降。使用较长时间间隔（增加超过 2.5 倍）的游泳方案会对肉桂小丑鱼的U_临界值产生负面影响，但不会对尖吻鲈产生负面影响。这些物种特异性的游泳表现差异凸显了在实验前测试合适的U_临界方案的重要性。流速的自动控制将为幼鱼的游泳性能创建更准确和可重复的数据。将精细测量整合到基于个体的模型中将支持未来对环境变化影响的研究。