Figure 1.

Influence of temperature on mechanical properties of scup red muscle and on their use during swimming. This figure shows the average (see note below) force–velocity and power–velocity curves of scup red muscle at (a) 10°C and (b) 20°C. (NB the dotted portion of the curves were not covered by their experiments and are fit by eye based on previous results). As muscle-shortening velocity during steady swimming was independent of temperature, we have placed the swimming speed axis on the graph as well. Thus, during steady swimming, the curves provide the power, force and muscle-shortening velocity as a function of swimming speed. The shaded regions represent the muscle-shortening velocity during steady swimming with red muscle. The dotted vertical lines at each temperature represent transition swimming speeds (see Rome et al. 1990). At slower swimming speeds than that of the left-most line, the scup used ‘burst and coast’ swimming with red muscle or their pelvic fins. At higher swimming speeds than that of the right-most line, the white muscle is recruited and the scup used burst-and-coast swimming. For each temperature, the V/V_max at the transition points is given. Adapted from Rome et al. (1992b).