QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online March 2, 2007
Journal of Experimental Biology 210, 1006-1014 (2007)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2007
doi: 10.1242/jeb.000570

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Behrens, J. W. Articles by Glud, R. N. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Behrens, J. W. Articles by Glud, R. N.

Oxygen dynamics around buried lesser sandeels Ammodytes tobianus (Linnaeus 1785): mode of ventilation and oxygen requirements

Jane W. Behrens, Henrik J. Stahl, John F. Steffensen and Ronnie N. Glud^*

Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Strandpromenaden 5, DK-3000 Helsingør, Denmark

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: rnglud{at}bi.ku.dk)

Accepted 23 January 2007

The oxygen environment around buried sandeels (Ammodytes tobianus) was monitored by planar optodes. The oxygen penetration depth at the sediment interface was only a few mm. Thus fish, typically buried at 1–4 cm depth, were generally in anoxic sediment. However, they induced an advective transport through the permeable interstice and formed an inverted cone of porewater with 93% air saturation in front of the mouth. From dye experiments the mean ventilatory flow rate was estimated at 0.26±0.02 ml min^–1 (86.9±7.3 ml min^–1 kg^–1) (N=3). Expelled water from the gills induced a 1 cm circular plume with <15% air saturation around the gills. During this quasi-steady ventilation mode, fish extracted 86.2±4.8% (N=7) of the oxygen from the inspired water. However, 13% of the investigated fish (2 of 15) occasionally wriggled their bodies and thereby transported almost fully air-saturated water down along the body, referred to as `plume ventilation'. Yet, within 30 min the oxic plume was replenished by oxygen-depleted water from the gills. The potential for cutaneous respiration by the buried fish was thus of no quantitative importance. Calculations derived by three independent methods (each with N=3) revealed that the oxygen uptake of sandeel buried for 6–7 h was 40–50% of previous estimates on resting respirometry of non-buried fish, indicating lower O₂ requirements during burial on a diurnal timescale. Buried fish exposed to decreasing oxygen tensions gradually approached the sediment surface, but remained in the sediment until the inspired water reached 5–10% air saturation.

Key words: sandeel, Ammodytes tobianus, oxygen imaging, sediment, oxygen uptake, ventilation, hypoxia

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. Kuhl, L. F. Rickelt, and R. Thar Combined Imaging of Bacteria and Oxygen in Biofilms Appl. Envir. Microbiol., October 1, 2007; 73(19): 6289 - 6295. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]