Partitioning of oxygen consumption between “maintenance” and “growth” in developing herring Clupea harengus (L.) embryos

Growth and oxygen consumption was measured in developing herring Clupea harengus (L.) embryos. By considering the variations in oxygen consumption with embryonic size and growth rate, an attempt was made to partition oxygen consumption between growth related and growth unrelated (i.e., "maintenance") processes. The metabolic cost of growth was estimated as ≈ 150 ng O2 · μg dry wt tissue formed−1. This estimate compares favourably with the biochemical estimate of the costs of transport and net biosynthesis. The "maintenance" component was proportional to embryonic mass (77 ng O2 · μg−1· d−1). Over the entire embryonic period, growth processes were responsible for ≈ 25% of the cumulated oxygen consumption.