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Body Temperature of Yellowfin and Skipjack Tunas in Relation to Sea Surface Temperature

Abstract

TUNAS are frequently cited as the exception to the generality that fishes are poikilothermic. These references to temperatures higher in tunas than in their environment are mainly based on measurements made with mercury thermometers on isolated specimens at one or two sea temperatures1, circumstances which result in less-than-accurate temperature measurements, and which fail to describe adequately the body temperature–sea temperature relation over the thermal range of the tunas. The single report2 of tuna body temperatures over a wide range of sea temperatures is based on measurements made with the mercury thermometer.

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References

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BARRETT, I., HESTER, F. Body Temperature of Yellowfin and Skipjack Tunas in Relation to Sea Surface Temperature. Nature 203, 96–97 (1964). https://doi.org/10.1038/203096b0

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