Gasping Fish and Panting Squids book cover in Chinese

Daniel Pauly’s book on how fish breathe and grow translated into Chinese

Gasping Fish and Panting Squids book cover in Chinese

A Chinese version of Gasping Fish and Panting Squids: Oxygen, Temperature and the Growth of Water-Breathing Animals, the book where Dr. Daniel Pauly develops his Gill-Oxygen Limitation Theory (GOLT), is now available to readers worldwide.



This Chinese version is based on the second edition of the
book, in which the Sea Around Us
principal investigator strengthens the arguments that back the GOLT by
incorporating new evidence that leads to a widening of the applicability of his
theory. From tiny gobies to large cod, he explains how the distribution and
growth of water-breathing animals are largely determined by the difficulties of
getting oxygen out of the water surrounding them.

“What happens is that the surface area of the gills — where
oxygen is obtained — is two-dimensional and does not grow at the same pace as
the rest of the body, which is three-dimensional,” Pauly explained. “As fish
grow into adulthood their demand for oxygen increases because their body mass
becomes larger but since the gills are not growing at the same pace, there is a
point where they cannot supply enough oxygen for further growth. This constraint
influences many processes in fish, from reproduction to how they react to
warming waters due to climate change.”

The 193-page book was translated and updated by Dr. Jianguo Du, a researcher at the Third Institute of Oceanography in the Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen, and was published by China Ocean Press. It is available on the link http://www.oceanpress.com.cn/front/book/detail?book_id=6329.

Here’s a summary, in Chinese, of the content of the book.

《喘息——氧气、温度与鳃呼吸动物的生长》一书从鱼类与无脊椎动物生长和呼吸的研究基础、鳃面积限制效应的证据、氧气的作用、温度的作用、季节性生长波动、生长与繁殖的关系、鱼类体内pH的动态变化及其与生长的关系、全球变暖背景下的鱼类分布和生产力等多个方面,系统阐述了鳃-氧限制理论。世界上庞大的水产养殖业需要注意鱼类和无脊椎动物氧气的供应问题,而捕捞业也日益受到全球变暖的影响。希望本书能为气候变暖背景下渔业的可持续发展和海洋生态保护提供可借鉴的思路和信息。

The English version of the second edition of Gasping Fish and Panting Squids is available on the Natural History Book Service website https://www.nhbs.com/gasping-fish-and-panting-squids-book