1 Comment so far

1. Mr. Biology on July 29, 2010 8:29 am

   Fish muscle is constructed a bit differently than mammal muscle. The muscles are divided into myomeres which are separated by sheets of connective tissue.
   Fish muscle tissue can be divided into red (fast), pink (intermediate), and white (slow) muscle.
   Red = Endurance
   White = Sprinting
   Red muscle is loaded with capillaries to sustain aerobic swimming. Continuous swimming rover-predators such as tuna will have a majority of their muscle mass as red muscle.
   White muscle has thicker fibers and is much less vascularized than red muscle. White muscle is used for anaerobic activity such as the rapid bursts of ambush predators.
   Fishes having intermediate activity levels will have a red lateral band of muscle and will have red muscle bands distributed throughout their white muscle.
   Pink muscle fibers are used for swimming velocities too high to be sustained by red muscle and too low to use anaerobic, white muscle. Most fishes use the different types of muscle in concert as they change swimming speed.