Metabolic rates are sensitive to environmental conditions and can skew geochemical measurements. However, there is no way to track these rates through time. Here we investigate the controls of test porosity in planktonic foraminifera (organisms commonly used in paleoclimate studies) as a potential proxy for metabolic rate. We found that the porosity varies with body size and temperature, two key controls on metabolic rate, and that it can respond to rapid changes in ambient temperature.