Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Warm brain and eye temperatures in sharks

  • Published:
Journal of Comparative Physiology B Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

  1. 1.

    Temperatures in the brain and eyes of mako and porbeagle sharks (Lamnidae) are 5°C warmer than the water while the brain and eye temperatures in six other species of pelagic sharks are within 0.1°C of water temperature.

  2. 2.

    An orbital rete mirabile is present in the porbeagle and mako sharks but absent in the cranial vasculature of eleven other species of pelagic sharks.

  3. 3.

    The orbital rete in the head of the porbeagle and mako sharks acts as a heat exchanger which conserves metabolic heat and raises the local tissue temperatures.

  4. 4.

    This brain and eye warming system should buffer the central nervous system from the effects of rapid temperature change. Warming of the retina may improve the visual sensitivity of these active predators.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aasen O (1961) Some observations on the biology of the porbeagle shark (Lamna nasus Bonnaterre). Int Counsil Explor seas 109:1–7

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker MA (1972) Influence of the carotid rete on brain temperature in cats exposed to hot environments. J Physiol 220:711–728

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker MA (1982) Brain cooling in endotherms in heat and exercise. Annu Rev Physiol 44:85–96

    Google Scholar 

  • Baylor DA, Hodgkin AL (1973) Detection and resolution of visual stimuli by turtle photoreceptors. J Physiol 234:163–198

    Google Scholar 

  • Burne RH (1923) Some peculiarities of the blood vascular system of the porbeagle shark (Lamna cornubica). Philos Trans R Soc London 212B:209–257

    Google Scholar 

  • Carey FG, Casey JJ, Pratt HL, Urquhart D, McCosker JE (1985) Temperature, heat production and heat exchange in Lamnid sharks Bull Southern Calif Acad Science

  • Carey FG (1982) A brain heater in the swordfish. Science 216:1327–1329

    Google Scholar 

  • Carey FG, Teal JM, Kanwisher JW (1981) The visceral temperatures of mackerel sharks. Physiol Zool 54:334–344

    Google Scholar 

  • Carey FG, Teal JM, Kanwisher JW, Lawson K, Beckett J (1971) Warm bodied fish. Am Zool 11:137–145

    Google Scholar 

  • Carey FG, Teal JM (1969) Mako and porbeagle: warm bodied sharks. Comp Biochem Physiol 28:199–204

    Google Scholar 

  • Carrazi D (1905) Sul sistema arterioso di selache mazima e di altri squalidi. Anat Anz 26:83–95

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawshaw LI (1976) Effect of rapid temperature change on mean body temperature and gill ventilation in carp. Am J Physiol 231:837–841

    Google Scholar 

  • Daniel PM, Dawes JK, Prichard MM (1953) Studies of the carotid rete and its associated arteries. Philos Trans R Soc London B 237:173–208

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedlander MJ, Kotchabhakdi N, Prosser CL (1976) Effects of cold and heat on behavior and cerebellar functions in goldfish. J Comp Physiol 112:19–45

    Google Scholar 

  • Frost PH, Siegfried WR, Greenwood PJ (1975) Arterio-venous heat exchange systems in the Jackass penguin,Spheniscus demersus. J Zool London 175:231–241

    Google Scholar 

  • Garrick JF (1967) Revision of sharks of genusIsurus with description of a new species (Galeoidea, Lamnidae). Proc US Nat Mus 118:663–690

    Google Scholar 

  • Konishi J, Hickman CP (1964) Temperature acclimation in the central nervous system of rainbow trout (Salmo gairdnerii). Comp Biochem Physiol 13:433–442

    Google Scholar 

  • Linthicum DS, Carey FG (1972) Regulation of brain and eye temperatures by the bluefin tuna. Comp Biochem Physiol 43A:425–433

    Google Scholar 

  • Müller J (1841) Vergleichende Anatomie der Myxinoiden. Abh Königl Akad Wissensch Berlin 35–303

    Google Scholar 

  • Northcutt RG (1977) The elasmobranch central nervous system and organization Am Zool 17:411–429

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Donoghue (1914) The blood vascular system of the spiny dogfish,Squalus acanthias, Linne, andSqualus sucklii Gill. Trans R Soc Edinburg 55/3 33:823–890

    Google Scholar 

  • Prosser CL, Nelson CO (1981) The role of nervous systems in temperature adaptation of poikilotherms. Annu Rev Physiol 43:281–300

    Google Scholar 

  • Saemundsson B (1949) Marine pisces. Zool Iceland 4:1–150

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholander PF (1958) Counter current exchange: A principle in biology. Hvalradets Skrifter 44:1–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholander PF, Krog J (1957) Countercurrent heat exchange and vascular bundles in sloths. J Appl Physiol 10:405–411

    Google Scholar 

  • Svetlov MF (1977) The porbeagle,Lamna nasus, in Antarctic waters. J Ichthyol 18:850–851

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Barbara A. Block

    Present address: Zoology Department, Duke University, 27706, Durham, North Carolina, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, O2543, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

    Barbara A. Block & Francis G. Carey

Authors
  1. Barbara A. Block
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Francis G. Carey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Block, B.A., Carey, F.G. Warm brain and eye temperatures in sharks. J Comp Physiol B 156, 229–236 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00695777

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00695777

Keywords

Search

Navigation