Methods of Studying the Respiratory Exchange in Small Aquatic Organisms, with Particular Reference to the Use of Flagellates as an Indicator for Oxygen Consumption

1. Flagellates are positively chemotactic to a certain concentration of dissolved oxygen which is lower than that in water saturated with oxygen under atmospheric partial pressure. Consequently, when a small aquatic animal is held motionless between cover-slip and slide in a suspension of flagellates in water saturated with oxygen, the flagellates are attracted to those parts of the animal which are absorbing oxygen. The relative sizes of the flagellate aggregations then show the relative activities of the different surfaces of the animal in absorbing oxygen. 2. Applying this method to the red Chironomus larva it was found that the animal respires by the whole body surface except by the head and the "ventral gills" and that the relative intensity of oxygen intake by the different parts of the body varies in different individuals and in the same individual at different times. 3. The absence of oxygen intake by the "ventral gills" was confirmed with the microspectroscope. In oxygen-free water all the hemoglobin of the blood becomes reduced. When an air bubble is now introduced so that it touches the "ventral gills" oxyhemoglobin first appears in the nearest body segment to the bubble, not in the "gills." 4. When a small aquatic animal is held motionless between cover-slip and slide in a solution of an indicator which changes color about the neutral point of water the relative extent of color change at different surfaces of the animal's body indicates the relative amounts of carbon dioxide given off by these surfaces. 5. Using this method with the red Chironomus larva similar conclusions were reached for carbon dioxide output as for oxygen intake.