Oxygen stores and aerobic metabolism in the leatherback sea turtle

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Abstract
The leatherback sea turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, is a large, deep-diving species that has a blood oxygen carrying capacity twice that of smaller, shallow-diving sea turtles. In this study we measured lung volume (by argon dilution) and blood volume (by dilution of Evans' blue dye) in leatherbacks to estimate partitioning of oxygen stores and their potential contribution to aerobic metabolism during diving. Blood volume (77 mL∙kg−1) was slightly higher, yet lung volume was considerably smaller (64 mL∙kg−1), than in other sea turtles, so that potential oxygen stores were almost equally divided between the lung (12 mL∙kg−1) and the blood and tissues (15 mL∙kg−1). At a body temperature of 32–34 °C and high heart rates (43–48/min), oxygen consumption of beached and netted leatherbacks was 1.1 mL∙min−1∙kg−1. The respiratory quotient exceeded unity, suggesting that the turtles were repaying an oxygen debt incurred in the netting procedure. Estimates of the probable utilization of oxygen stores and possible maximum and minimum oxygen uptakes were used to obtain a range of dive times (5–70 min) that can be supported aerobically.

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