Cardiac output determinations by the dye-dilution method in Squalus acanthias

¹ Department of Medicine, University of Alabama Medical Center, Birmingham, Alabama; Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, Salisbury Cove, Maine

A dye-dilution technique has been adapted for the measurement of cardiac output in the elasmobranch, Squalus acanthias. Cardiac output averaged 1.60 ± 1.00 liter/kg per hr in 26 fish. Small fish showed a relatively high cardiac index (liters/kg per hr) as compared with large fish. The use of this technique permits sequential cardiac output measurements with the maintenance of an intact physiological status. This technique should permit quantitation of exchange of a variety of substances across the gill membranes.

Key Words: dye-dilution technique • fish • shark • heart function in fish • cardiac output in fish • gill blood flow

Submitted on March 10, 1965

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