Data from experiments testing the effects of hypoxia on behavior and physiology of two species of rockfish from from 2015-2016

This study investigated the effects of hypoxia on the behavior and physiology of juvenile rockfishes in a controlled laboratory setting to test how deoxygenation may impact early life stages of common temperate reef fishes. Juvenile rockfishes were collected from shallow rocky reef and kelp forest habitats at Stillwater Cove, central California (36˚ 34' N, 121˚ 56' W) during May-June of 2015. Newly settled copper (Sebastes caurinus) and blue (Sebastes mystinus) rockfish were reared in the laboratory under across a range of oxygen concentrations. Juvenile rockfishes were exposed to one of four dissolved oxygen treatment levels corresponding to conditions that currently occur or are predicted to occur in the future on the central California coast: 100% saturation (8.74 ± 0.03 mg O2 L-1), 68% saturation (6.00 ± 0.04 mg O2 L-1), 46% saturation (4.06 ± 0.04 mg O2 L-1), or 26% saturation (2.25 ± 0.05 mg O2 L-1), with two replicate tanks per treatment level. Behavior and physiological trials were conducted on each individual to test how each species responds to declining oxygen levels, including (1) escape response, (2) behavioral lateralization, (3) standard metabolic rate, (4) maximum metabolic rate, (5) aerobic scope, (6) pCrit (i.e., hypoxia tolerance test), and (7) ventilation rate. These data are published in Mattiasen et al. (2020).