Abstract: To explore the differences in swimming ability among different species of fish (Pelteobagrus eupogon, Siniperca chuatsi, Carassius auratus, and Paramisgurnus dabryanus) as well as the effects of domestication temperature on swimming ability, the critical swimming speed (U^r_crit) and burst swimming speed (U^r_burst) of those four species were tested under conditions of 26±1 ℃ and 10± 1 ℃ using the velocity increment method. The results showed that the U^r_crit and U^r_burst of the four fish species were significantly different (P<0.01). Compared with the control at low temperature, the U^r_crit of Pelteobagrus eupogon, Siniperca chuatsi, and Carassius auratus showed an extremely significant increase (P<0.01) at high temperature, while that of Paramisgurnus dabryanus showed a significant increase (P<0.05). Among them, the Siniperca chuatsi of Carassius auratus was the largest, followed by the Siniperca chuatsi of Siniperca chuatsi and Pelteobagrus eupogon, while the U^r_crit of Paramisgurnus dabryanus was the smallest. There was no difference in U^r_crit between the low and high temperature group (P>0.05). The U^r_crit of Carassius auratus was the largest, followed by the U^r_crit of Pelteobagrus eupogon and Siniperca chuatsi, while the U^r_crit of Paramisgurnus dabryanus was the smallest. Overall, there are differences in the critical swimming speed and burst swimming speed among the four species. Temperature has a significant effect on the critical swimming speed of the four fish species, but has little effect on the burst swimming speed. Our results can provide reference for scientific fish breeding and resource restoration.

Key words: temperature, swimming ability, critical swimming speed, burst swimming speed