AEROBIC METABOLISM OF THE ANGLERFISH MELANOCETUS-JOHNSONI, A DEEP-PELAGIC MARINE SIT-AND-WAIT PREDATOR

Melanocetus johnsoni (Teleostei:Melanocetidae), a bathypelagic marine sit-and-wait predatory fish captured off Hawaii, has an average aerobi c metabolism of 0.486 mu mol O-2 g(-1) h(-1), a rate much lower than t hat of more active species from similar depths but similar to that of other sit-and-wait predators. Larger individuals have a lower mass-spe cific metabolic rate than do small ones (the slope of the allometric r elationship between wet mass and mass-specific metabolism is -0.46). T his species, a resident of the oxygen minimum layer, is capable of reg ulating its oxygen consumption down to the lowest oxygen pressures enc ountered in its environment off Hawaii, and can also survive for hours under severely hypoxic or anaerobic conditions.