The ability of organisms to adapt to changing environments will determine their tolerance to climate change and other anthropogenic pressures. In order to see the effect on coastal fish species, we investigated how raising water temperature affected the metabolisms of four Narragansett Bay fish species: summer and winter flounder, black sea bass and scup. We expect fish species to increase reliance on red muscle under higher temperatures since these muscles are thermal sensitive. Sedentary species will likely demonstrate less capacity to adapt to higher temperatures than more active pelagic species. We used close chamber respirometry to determine mass corrected basal and maximal metabolic rate. We also performed electromyographic recordings to determine in vivo muscle activation patterns of both red and white muscles at half and three quarters of the fish body length. We held the fish at 20C and tested four temperatures: 18, 20, 22 and 24C. We found that while oxygen consumption generally increased with temperature, in flatfishes it increased little or decreased, suggesting depression of metabolism. Basal metabolic rate in scup increased more pronouncedly at higher temperatures than black sea bass, which could indicate increased stress and lower aerobic scope. Muscle mechanics show species specific trends and a trade-off between intensity and duty factor. A higher dependency of red muscles as temperature increased was found for all the species. Studying in vivo muscle physiology and oxygen consumption of various fish species can help determine fitness in the coming years and can be used as input into productivity models. This information is essential to local stakeholders to determine management directions to achieve long-term fishery sustainability.