Numerous electrophysiological studies on branchial K(+) transport in brachyuran crabs have established an important role for potassium channels in osmoregulatory ion uptake and ammonia excretion in the gill epithelium of decapod crustaceans. However, hardly anything is known of the actual nature of these channels in crustaceans. In the present study, the identification of a hyperpolarization-ac...

The patterns of blood flow through the complex circulation of the tiger salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum, were investigated during aquatic normoxia and hypoxia by application of the microsphere technique. The distribution of differently labelled microspheres injected into the bloodstream towards the left and right atria, respectively, was used to evaluate the role of the ductus arteriosus in lung...

Ram ventilation and gill function in a lamnid shark, the shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus, were studied to assess how gill structure may affect the lamnid-tuna convergence for high-performance swimming. Despite differences in mako and tuna gill morphology, mouth gape and basal swimming speeds, measurements of mako O(2) utilization at the gills (53.4±4.2%) and the pressure gradient driving branc...

The developmental sequence of chloride cells was examined in both the body skin and gills of Japanese flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) larvae by whole-mount immunocytochemistry using an antiserum specific for Na(+),K(+)-ATPase. In premetamorphic larvae at 0 and 4 days after hatching (days 0 and 4), immunoreactive chloride cells were distributed only in the yolk-sac membrane and body skin. Prem...

The abalone Haliotis iris retains the ancestral gastropod arrangement of a pair of bipectinate gills (ctenidia). The gills share a single branchial chamber, are supplied from a common haemolymph sinus and effectively support the whole of oxygen uptake by the animal. Using chronic indwelling cannulae and pulsed Doppler probes, post-branchial haemolymph oxygen partial pressures (PaO2) and haemoly...