A fishs hypoxia tolerance can be represented in different ways. A commonly used representation is the critical O tension (P), which is the lowest water O tension (P consumption rate (M is therefore thought to be more hypoxia-tolerant than a fish with a higher P. But while P is often used to represent hypoxia tolerance, it more accurately represents the ability to take up environmental O  at hypoxic P is nevertheless closely tied to a fishs hypoxia tolerance, in part because some fish prioritize their use of aerobic metabolism over anaerobic metabolism and metabolic suppression. It therefore remains a widely used hypoxia tolerance metric.
A fish's hypoxia tolerance can also be represented as the amount of time it can spend at a particular hypoxic P</sub>-of-LOE value therefore imply enhanced hypoxia tolerances. In either case, LOE is a more holistic representation of overall hypoxia tolerance because it incorporates all contributors to hypoxia tolerance, including aerobic metabolism, anaerobic metabolism and metabolic suppression.