Mesothermic fishes face high fuel demands and overheating risk in warming oceans

Body size and temperature set metabolic rates and the pace of life, yet our understanding of the energetics of large fishes is uncertain, especially of warm-bodied mesotherms, which can heavily influence marine food webs. We developed an approach to estimate metabolic heat production in fishes, revealing how routine energy expenditure scales with size and temperature from 1-milligram larvae up to 3-tonne megaplanktivorous sharks. We found that mesotherms use approximately four times more energy than ectotherms use and identified a scaling mismatch in which rates of heat production increase faster than heat loss as body size increases, with larger fish becoming increasingly warm bodied. This scaling imbalance creates an overheating predicament for large mesotherms, helping to explain their cooler biogeographies. Contemporary mesotherms face high fuel demands and overheating risks, which is a concern given their disproportionate demise during prior climate shifts.

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Publication Details

Journal
Science
Published
2026-04-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adt2981
Primary Topic
Physiological and biochemical adaptations
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Mesothermic fishes face high fuel demands and overheating risk in warming oceans

Nuno Queiroz, Andrew L. Jackson, Taylor K. Chapple, Jeremy A. Goldbogen et al.
Science
Physiological and biochemical adaptations
article

Mesothermic fishes face high fuel demands and overheating risk in warming oceans

Nuno Queiroz, Andrew L. Jackson, Taylor K. Chapple, Jeremy A. Goldbogen, Haley R. Dolton, Ivo da Costa, Ignacio Peralta‐Maraver, Alexandra G. McInturf, Lara L. Sousa, David E. Cade, David Sims, Edward P. Snelling, Yuuki Y. Watanabe, NL Payne
article en

Abstract

Body size and temperature set metabolic rates and the pace of life, yet our understanding of the energetics of large fishes is uncertain, especially of warm-bodied mesotherms, which can heavily influence marine food webs. We developed an approach to estimate metabolic heat production in fishes, revealing how routine energy expenditure scales with size and temperature from 1-milligram larvae up to 3-tonne megaplanktivorous sharks. We found that mesotherms use approximately four times more energy than ectotherms use and identified a scaling mismatch in which rates of heat production increase faster than heat loss as body size increases, with larger fish becoming increasingly warm bodied. This scaling imbalance creates an overheating predicament for large mesotherms, helping to explain their cooler biogeographies. Contemporary mesotherms face high fuel demands and overheating risks, which is a concern given their disproportionate demise during prior climate shifts.

ScienceVol. 392(6795)
Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom (GB), Oregon State University (US), Universidad de Granada (ES), Universidade do Porto (PT), National Oceanography Centre (GB), The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI (JP), Trinity College Dublin (IE), Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital (ZA), University of Southampton (GB), Stanford University (US)
Human Frontier Science Program, Science Foundation Ireland, Irish Research Council
Life below water
Openalex Percentile: Top 18%
Physiological and biochemical adaptations
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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