Swimming Exercises Can Help Fishes to Withstand Global Warming

Climate Change Swimming Exercises Can Help Fishes to Withstand Global Warming

2023-12-20 Source: Press release University of Turku 2 min Reading Time

Related Vendor

Doctoral Researcher Luca Pettinau reveals in his dissertation that regular swimming exercises could help fishes to not only improve their heart performance but also their ability to withstand higher temperatures.

Luca Pettinau catching an adult brown trout in the Enonkoski facility.(Source: Katja Anttila) — Luca Pettinau catching an adult brown trout in the Enonkoski facility.
(Source: Katja Anttila)

Turku/Finland – Climate change is increasing the severity and frequency of marine heatwaves, compromising the physiological limits of fish and other aquatic animals. As summers become hotter, fish mass mortalities are becoming more frequent. Fishes are not only vital to ocean ecosystems but also crucial for human activities like fisheries and aquaculture. Therefore, there is an important need to understand the physiological ability of fish to cope with high temperatures and to provide solutions to increase their resilience to heatwaves.

Previous studies have suggested that temperature tolerance of fish is strongly related to cardiac function.

In his research, Pettinau observed rainbow trouts and brown trouts in Enonkoski, in the Natural Resources Institute Finland’s aquaculture facilities, and trained the fish in rearing tanks, which were modified for exercise training purposes. Pettinau studied the mechanisms that allow the fish heart to adjust its function to cope with environmental changes, such as warming water or low oxygen levels.

The research showed that fish need a strong and athletic heart to be able to flexibly respond to these environmental challenges.

“However, hatchery fish are usually cultivated in low water flow and they get their food without any effort. Thus, they are the fish world’s couch potatoes. In my thesis I studied, if swimming training can strengthen the heart so that also the tolerance of fish to increased temperatures is improved”, Pettinau says.

By training fish with several swimming exercise programs for 5 weeks, Pettinau found that a mild training intensity enhanced heart performance and heart thermal tolerance. He also investigated how maternal exercise training can have cascading effects on the offspring. Exercise training not only enhances the heart physiology of the trained fish but also improves its reproduction, and offspring’s survival and growth.

“Taken together, my results suggest that by increasing the water flow in the rearing tanks, we can improve heart physiology and reproduction, as well as the growth rate of the next generation. With the upcoming increase in water temperatures, these findings have important implications for the sectors where fish are bred in captivity: aquaculture, and conservation programs, providing a valid practice to enhance the resilience of fish to global warming”, Pettinau says.

(ID:49853300)

Subscribe to the newsletter now

Don't Miss out on Our Best Content

Business E-mail

Please enter a valid mailadress.

By clicking on „Subscribe to Newsletter“ I agree to the processing and use of my data according to the consent form (please expand for details) and accept the Terms of Use. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy. The consent declaration relates, among other things, to the sending of editorial newsletters by email and to data matching for marketing purposes with selected advertising partners (e.g., LinkedIn, Google, Meta)

Date: 08.12.2025

Naturally, we always handle your personal data responsibly. Any personal data we receive from you is processed in accordance with applicable data protection legislation. For detailed information please see our privacy policy.

Consent to the use of data for promotional purposes

I hereby consent to Vogel Communications Group GmbH & Co. KG, Max-Planck-Str. 7-9, 97082 Würzburg including any affiliated companies according to §§ 15 et seq. AktG (hereafter: Vogel Communications Group) using my e-mail address to send editorial newsletters. A list of all affiliated companies can be found here

Newsletter content may include all products and services of any companies mentioned above, including for example specialist journals and books, events and fairs as well as event-related products and services, print and digital media offers and services such as additional (editorial) newsletters, raffles, lead campaigns, market research both online and offline, specialist webportals and e-learning offers. In case my personal telephone number has also been collected, it may be used for offers of aforementioned products, for services of the companies mentioned above, and market research purposes.

Additionally, my consent also includes the processing of my email address and telephone number for data matching for marketing purposes with select advertising partners such as LinkedIn, Google, and Meta. For this, Vogel Communications Group may transmit said data in hashed form to the advertising partners who then use said data to determine whether I am also a member of the mentioned advertising partner portals. Vogel Communications Group uses this feature for the purposes of re-targeting (up-selling, cross-selling, and customer loyalty), generating so-called look-alike audiences for acquisition of new customers, and as basis for exclusion for on-going advertising campaigns. Further information can be found in section “data matching for marketing purposes”.

In case I access protected data on Internet portals of Vogel Communications Group including any affiliated companies according to §§ 15 et seq. AktG, I need to provide further data in order to register for the access to such content. In return for this free access to editorial content, my data may be used in accordance with this consent for the purposes stated here. This does not apply to data matching for marketing purposes.

Right of revocation

I understand that I can revoke my consent at will. My revocation does not change the lawfulness of data processing that was conducted based on my consent leading up to my revocation. One option to declare my revocation is to use the contact form found at https://contact.vogel.de. In case I no longer wish to receive certain newsletters, I have subscribed to, I can also click on the unsubscribe link included at the end of a newsletter. Further information regarding my right of revocation and the implementation of it as well as the consequences of my revocation can be found in the data protection declaration, section editorial newsletter.