Functional Characteristics of the Blood of the Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent Brachyuran Crab

doi:10.1126/science.214.4520.559

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Science 30 October 1981:
Vol. 214. no. 4520, pp. 559 - 561
DOI: 10.1126/science.214.4520.559

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Functional Characteristics of the Blood of the Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent Brachyuran Crab

ALISSA J. ARP ¹ and JAMES J. CHILDRESS ¹

¹ Oceanic Biology Group, Marine Science Institute, Department of Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara 93106

Hemocyanin in the whole blood of the hydrothermal vent brachyurancrab, Bythograea thermydron, has a moderate oxygen affinity(P₅₀ = 6.6 millimeters of mercury at 2.6° C; pH 7.5), whichunlike that of other hemocyanins is independent of temperatureover the range 2° to 30°C; carbon dioxide and pH haveindependent effects on the oxygen affinity of this pigment.The pH effect on affinity is moderate ( $Dgr$ log P₅₀/ $Dgr$ pH = –0.34),whereas increased carbon dioxide, which can act both directlyand by changing pH, has a much larger effect ( $Dgr$ log P₅₀/ $Dgr$ pH = –0.81).This blood has a moderately high degree of cooperativity (Hillcooperativity coefficient, n, was 2.8) and a large oxygen-carryingcapacity for a crustacean (4.5 milliliters of oxygen per 100milliliters of blood). These properties characterize an oxygentransport system whose function appears to be largely independentof the wide range of environmental conditions encountered aroundthe vents.

Submitted on April 27, 1981
Revised on July 7, 1981

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:

Thermal Vent Clam (Calyptogena magnifica) Hemoglobin.: R. C. TERWILLIGER, N. B. TERWILLIGER, and A. ARP (1983)
Science 219, 981-983
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