Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 9 August 1985:
Vol. 229. no. 4713, pp. 556 - 558
DOI: 10.1126/science.4023700
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Science, Vol 229, Issue 4713, 556-558
Copyright © 1985 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

Seal lungs collapse during free diving: evidence from arterial nitrogen tensions

KJ Falke, RD Hill, J Qvist, RC Schneider, M Guppy, GC Liggins, PW Hochachka, RE Elliott, and WM Zapol

Arterial blood nitrogen tensions of free-diving Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddelli) were measured by attaching a microprocessor-controlled blood pump and drawing samples at depth to determine how these marine mammals dive to great depths and ascend rapidly without developing decompression sickness. Forty-seven samples of arterial blood were obtained from four Weddell seals during free dives lasting up to 23 minutes to depths of 230 meters beneath the sea ice of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Peak arterial blood nitrogen tensions of between 2000 and 2500 millimeters of mercury were recorded at depths of 40 to 80 meters during descent, indicating that the seal's lung collapses by 25 to 50 meters. Then arterial blood nitrogen tensions slowly decreased to about 1500 millimeters of mercury at the surface. In a single dive, alveolar collapse and redistribution of blood nitrogen allow the seal to avoid nitrogen narcosis and decompression sickness.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Investigation of the potential for vascular bubble formation in a repetitively diving dolphin.
D. S. Houser, L. A. Dankiewicz-Talmadge, T. K. Stockard, and P. J. Ponganis (2010)
J. Exp. Biol. 213, 52-62
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Ontogenetic changes in tracheal structure facilitate deep dives and cold water foraging in adult leatherback sea turtles.
J. Davenport, J. Fraher, E. Fitzgerald, P. McLaughlin, T. Doyle, L. Harman, T. Cuffe, and P. Dockery (2009)
J. Exp. Biol. 212, 3440-3447
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
High-affinity hemoglobin and blood oxygen saturation in diving emperor penguins.
J. U. Meir and P. J. Ponganis (2009)
J. Exp. Biol. 212, 3330-3338
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Extreme hypoxemic tolerance and blood oxygen depletion in diving elephant seals.
J. U. Meir, C. D. Champagne, D. P. Costa, C. L. Williams, and P. J. Ponganis (2009)
Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol 297, R927-R939
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Gas Bubbles in Seals, Dolphins, and Porpoises Entangled and Drowned at Depth in Gillnets.
M. J. Moore, A. L. Bogomolni, S. E. Dennison, G. Early, M. M. Garner, B. A. Hayward, B. J. Lentell, and D. S. Rotstein (2009)
Vet. Pathol. 46, 536-547
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
O2 store management in diving emperor penguins.
P. J. Ponganis, T. K. Stockard, J. U. Meir, C. L. Williams, K. V. Ponganis, and R. Howard (2009)
J. Exp. Biol. 212, 217-224
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The pressure to understand the mechanism of lung compression and its effect on lung function.
A. Fahlman (2008)
J Appl Physiol 104, 907-908
   Full Text »    PDF »
Locomotion in diving elephant seals: physical and physiological constraints.
R. W Davis and D. Weihs (2007)
Phil Trans R Soc B 362, 2141-2150
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Successful foraging zones of southern elephant seals from the Kerguelen Islands in relation to oceanographic conditions.
F. Bailleul, J.-B. Charrassin, P. Monestiez, F. Roquet, M. Biuw, and C. Guinet (2007)
Phil Trans R Soc B 362, 2169-2181
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Extreme diving of beaked whales.
P. L. Tyack, M. Johnson, N. A. Soto, A. Sturlese, and P. T. Madsen (2006)
J. Exp. Biol. 209, 4238-4253
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Body density affects stroke patterns in Baikal seals.
Y. Watanabe, E. A. Baranov, K. Sato, Y. Naito, and N. Miyazaki (2006)
J. Exp. Biol. 209, 3269-3280
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The effect of myoglobin concentration on aerobic dive limit in a Weddell seal.
T. J. Wright and R. W. Davis (2006)
J. Exp. Biol. 209, 2576-2585
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Molecular cloning and expression of leptin in gray and harbor seal blubber, bone marrow, and lung and its potential role in marine mammal respiratory physiology.
J. A. Hammond, K. A. Bennett, M. J. Walton, and A. J. Hall (2005)
Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol 289, R545-R553
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
"Gas and Fat Embolic Syndrome" Involving a Mass Stranding of Beaked Whales (Family Ziphiidae) Exposed to Anthropogenic Sonar Signals.
A. Fernandez, J. F. Edwards, F. Rodriguez, A. Espinosa de los Monteros, P. Herraez, P. Castro, J. R. Jaber, V. Martin, and M. Arbelo (2005)
Vet. Pathol. 42, 446-457
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Acute and Chronic Gas Bubble Lesions in Cetaceans Stranded in the United Kingdom.
P. D. Jepson, R. Deaville, I. A. P. Patterson, A. M. Pocknell, H. M. Ross, J. R. Baker, F. E. Howie, R. J. Reid, A. Colloff, and A. A. Cunningham (2005)
Vet. Pathol. 42, 291-305
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Surfactant from diving aquatic mammals.
R. G. Spragg, P. J. Ponganis, J. J. Marsh, G. A. Rau, and W. Bernhard (2004)
J Appl Physiol 96, 1626-1632
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Spleen volume and blood flow response to repeated breath-hold apneas.
D. Bakovic, Z. Valic, D. Eterovic, I. Vukovic, A. Obad, I. Marinovic-Terzic, and Z. Dujic (2003)
J Appl Physiol 95, 1460-1466
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Buoyancy and maximal diving depth in penguins: do they control inhaling air volume?.
K. Sato, Y. Naito, A. Kato, Y. Niizuma, Y. Watanuki, J. B. Charrassin, C.-A. Bost, Y. Handrich, and Y. Le Maho (2002)
J. Exp. Biol. 205, 1189-1197
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Convective oxygen transport and tissue oxygen consumption in Weddell seals during aerobic dives.
R. Davis and S. Kanatous (1999)
J. Exp. Biol. 202, 1091-1113
   Abstract »    PDF »
Drowning, Near-Drowning, and Ice-Water Drowning.
J. P. Orlowski (1988)
JAMA 260, 390-391
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)