The hematology, metabolic rate, and aerobic swimming capacity of triploid brook trout

In this thesis I have examined the effects of artificially induced triploidy on the hematology, metabolic rate, and aerobic swimming capacity of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). My results indicate that triploids have a lower metabolic (oxygen consumption) rate than diploids but that diploids and triploids are equivalent in their aerobic swimming capacity (as measured by critical swimming velocity). Diploids and triploids are also similar in their hematology except around the time of diploid ovulation, when diploid females have a lower total blood hemoglobin concentration than triploid females. Hematological results suggest that the blood-oxygen carrying capacity of triploids may not be impaired to the degree previously anticipated. The lower oxygen requirements of triploids may act to offset any existing reduction in blood-oxygen carrying capacity such that the aerobic capacity of diploids and triploids is equivalent.