Publications by authors named "Steve Pether"

Microorganisms quickly colonise microplastics entering the ocean, forming a biofilm that, if ingested, is consumed with the microplastics. Past research often neglects to expose fish to biofouled microplastics, opting only for clean microplastics despite the low likelihood that fish will encounter clean microplastics. Here, we investigate the physiological impacts of biofouled polyethylene microplastic (300-335 μm) exposure in juvenile fish.

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Marine microplastics are rapidly colonised by a microbial community which form a biofilm unique from the surrounding seawater that often contains infochemical-producing species associated with food sources. Here, we investigated whether juvenile kingfish (Seriola lalandi) were more attracted to biofouled plastics compared to clean plastics. Plastics were exposed to unfiltered seawater for one month to cultivate a microbial community.

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Rising water temperature and increased uptake of CO by the ocean are predicted to have widespread impacts on marine species. However, the effects are likely to vary, depending on a species' sensitivity and the geographical location of the population. Here, we investigated the potential effects of elevated temperature and pCO on larval growth and survival in a New Zealand population of the Australasian snapper, Chrysophyrs auratus.

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Anthropogenic CO emissions are causing global ocean warming and ocean acidification. The early life stages of some marine fish are vulnerable to elevated ocean temperatures and CO concentrations, with lowered survival and growth rates most frequently documented. Underlying these effects, damage to different organs has been found as a response to elevated CO in larvae of several species of marine fish, yet the combined effects of acidification and warming on organ health are unknown.

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Induced-swimming can improve the growth and feed conversion efficiency of finfish aquaculture species, such as salmonids and Seriola sp., but some species, such as Atlantic cod, show no or a negative productivity response to exercise. As a possible explanation for these species-specific differences, a recent hypothesis proposed that the applicability of exercise training, as well as the exercise regime for optimal growth gain (ERopt growth), was dependent upon the size of available aerobic metabolic scope (AMS).

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Article Synopsis
  • Moderate exercise enhances growth and feed conversion in farmed fish, particularly juvenile New Zealand yellowtail kingfish.
  • Experiments reveal a 10% growth increase at low swimming speeds (0.75 BL s⁻¹) and higher temperatures (21.1 °C), indicating optimal conditions for exercise.
  • Although exercise training improves swimming efficiency, it does not impact metabolic scope or critical swimming speeds, suggesting a need for further research on energy costs related to growth and exercise.
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